
^a^T^I^ s/f 




JU 



A TREATISE ON THE HOG: 



ftid/ 



HIS 



HABITS, BREEDS, MANAGEMENT, 
AND DISEASES. 



WITH ESPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE 



DISEASE CALLED HOG CHOLERA. 



TOGETHER WITH A 



CHAPTER ON TRICHINA. 






By JAMES A. REASOR, 

OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, KY. 




LOUISYILLE, KY: 
PRINTED BY JOHN P. MORTON AND COMPANY. 

1870. 






Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1870, 

By JAMES A. REASOR, 

In the Clerk's OflBce of the United States District Court for the District of Kentucky. 



Stereotyped by 
ROBERT ROWELL, 

Louisville, Ky. 




PREFACE. 



After many years of study and labor, and much 
perplexity, the author offers the results of his expe- 
rience and investigations to the public. He has used 
his best endeavors to make the work interesting to 
the reader, by going somewhat at length into the 
history of the hog; and, as he hopes, profitable to 
the raiser by calhng his attention to the proper 
management of this valuable animal, both in health 
and in disease. Although much has been written on 
the subject of breeds and breeding, the author has 
also given his observations and experience on the 
subject, in the hope that they may be found of 
service to the reader. 

But the chief object of the work in its inception 
was to give a thorough and complete account of that 
terrible disease amongst the swine known as "hog 
CHOLERA." On this subject great labor, time, and 
expense has been bestowed. To the investigation 
of this disease many weary hours of study have 
been given, in order to determine the nature of the 
disease and the true causes producing it. Great 
painstaking and many tedious experiments, under 
many discouragements, were found necessary. 

The author believes that he has finally discovered 
the true sources of this dreaded malady. He be- 
lieves that if his instructions are faithfully carried 
nto practice that hog cholera will become a rarity. 

(3) 



4 PREFACE. 

This may seem to be strong, confident language; 
and nothing could induce him to utter it but a con- 
sciousness of its truth. 

A short chapter on diseased meats, and one on that 
terrible little animal the trichina spiralis, and many 
recipes for the various diseases of the hog, and the 
names of the medicines most employed in the treat- 
ment of the hog, and all that is really important on 
these subjects, have been added, together with a short 
dictionary of words not in common use. 

The author feels that no apology is needed for the 
appearance of a book on the hog and his diseases, as 
he is satisfied that such a work is demanded; but 
perhaps an apology is needed for the manner in 
which the duty has been performed. He lays no 
claims to scholarship, and is perfectly aware that it 
has many defects, for which he begs the indulgence 
of the reader. 

The author avails himself of the occasion to ex- 
press his thanks to his many scientific friends of the 
medical profession for their kind assistance in making 
post-mortem and microscopic examinations for him, 
and in an especial manner desires to express his ac- 
knowledgments to the following authors, from whose 
valuable works he has made extensive quotations; 
viz., Youatt, Beaty, Martin, and also to Virchow and 
his able translator, Rufus King Brown, M. D.; and to 
Dr. J. D. Jackson and Professor Dal ton, from whose 
works on the trichina he has derived the greater 
part of the chapter on that subject. 

With these remarks, explanatory of the scope and 
objects of the book, the author offers it to the public, 
with the sincere hope that it may satisfy the expec-^ 
tations of its readers. 

Louisville. Ky., June 1. 1870. 



i 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

HISTORY OF THE HOG. 

Law of the Jews — The Eomans gave great attention to them — Tlie 
Gauls produced the finest swine — The Jews gave attention to raising 
swine — Highly esteemed by the English — Staple article of food — 
Brought to highest state of cultivation by the English — Value of his 
flesh to the world — Easily raised and very prolific — His commercial 
importance — Not a native of cold climates — Class of animals to which 
he belongs — States most interested in him — Importance of thorough 
knowledge of his habits — Cleanliness — Sagacity — More choice than 
any other animal in selecting his food— His viciousness — All depends 
on proper management — Flesh used for various purposes 9 

CHAPTER II. 

THE WILD BOAR. 

Description of him — Goes in search of his food at night — Sense of smell 
— Manner of defending herd against enemies — Their age — Solitary 
habits when old — Habits of the female — They farrow but once a year 
— Laws to protect the boar for the chase — Hogs introduced into 
America — Number and value in the United States 27 

CHAPTER III. 

DOMESTICATION — DIFFERENT BREEDS. 

DilFerent breeds crossed and recrossed to improve the stock — Names 
applied to the breeds produced — First improved breeds imported to 
America a present to Washington — Caution against imposition in 
selecting blooded hogs — Improved breeds at county fairs — Selection 
of breeds — Color, etc 36 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

BREEDING. 

Objects to be attained — To secure healthy and prolific hogs — Selections 
of breeders — Pigs inherit qualities of parents — Fecundity of breeders 
— In-and-in breeding — Proper age of breeders — Directions and advice 
of raisers — Time the sow carries her young — Abortion — Sows devour 
their young — Treatment of sows while suckling — Weaning — Proper 
time for farrowing 45 

CHAPTER V. 

PROTECTION — PLAN OF HOG-HOUSE. 

The importince of proper ])rotection of the hog during the winter and 
early spring — Ground plan of a cheap and convenient house for the 
purpose, with full description — Advantages at the farrowing and 
breeding seasons — Directions in regard to castration and speying...62 

CHAPTER VI. 

ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND DISEASES OF THE HOG. 

The head — The nose — Nerves of the special senses — The teeth ; their 
names and number ; their importance and function — Lining of the 
mouth — The brain, larger in proportion to the size of the animal than 
that of the ox or sheep — Apoplexy, its cause; its treatment — Inflam- 
mation of the brain — Epilepsy — Lockjaw, causes of— Diseases of the 
nose; how produced — The larynx, diseases of — The pharynx — 
Strangles and quinsy, treatment of— The chest — The lungs, diseases 
of — Bronchial tubes; their diseases 70 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE ALIMENTARY CANAL. 

The gullet or oesophagus— The stomach— The intestines, large and small 
—Inflammation of the bowels; treatment— Colic ; treatment— Diar- 
rhea; treatment— Gorget of the maw; cause; treatment — The liver 
—The spleen— Peritoneum, inflammation of; treatment— Worms in 
the intestines; varieties; treatment— Kidneys and bladder, diseases 
of; treatment of 93 



CONTENTS. 7 

CHAPTER yill. 

THE SKIN AND ITS DISEASES. 

Its structure — Gangrenous erysipelas — Lice; how to destroy them — 
Leprosy; its history; treatment — Mange; its cause; treatment — 
Measles; its nature; cause; treatment 116 

CHAPTER IX. 

CHOLERA. 

Difficult to manage — Very mysterious — Conflicting views concerning it 
— Epidemics — Name cholera improperly applied — Its fatality — Sup- 
posed loss by its ravages — External appearances of the disease — 
Symptoms of the disease — Symptoms numerous — The premonitory 
symptoms to be particularly noticed 135 

CHAPTER X. 

POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES. 

The heart — Windpipe — Lungs — Liver — Gall-bladder — Stomach — 
Bowels — Kidneys and bladder 146 

CHAPTER XL 

REPORT OF PHYSICIANS OF COLES COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 

Report of Dr. W. M. Allen, of Jefierson County, Kentucky — Views of 
Dr. Sutton, of Indiana — Mr. Higgins, of Maryland 154 

CHAPTER XII. 

CAUSES PRODUCING CHOLERA. 

Experiments — Observations in pens — Long attention given to its 
study 169 

CHAPTER XIIL 

TREATMENT OF CHOLERA. 

Prevention better than cure — Early attention important — Feeding — 
Watering — Bedding — Medical treatment — Recipes 199 



8 CONTENTS. 



1 



CHAPTER XIV. 

DISEASED MEATS. 

Injurious to man — Effects upon dogs from eating it — How diseased meat 
may be detected — Cysticercus ; how known ; produce tape- worm in 
man 214 

CHAPTER XV. 

TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 

Its history — Its effect upon animals and man — Where found — Its propa- 
gation 227 

CHAPTER XVI, 
Medicines 293 



TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



CHAPTER I. 

HISTORY OF THE HOG. 

Law of the Jews — The Romans gave great attention to them — The 
Gauls produced the finest swine — The Jews gave attention to raising 
swine — Highly esteemed by the English — Staple article of food — 
Brought to highest state of cultivation by the English — Value of 
his flesh to the world — Easily raised and very prolific — His commer- 
cial importance — Not a native of cold climates — Class of animals to 
which he belongs — States most interested in him — Importance of 
thorough knowledge of his habits — Cleanliness — Sagacity — More 
choice than any other animal in selecting his food — His vicious- 
ness — All depends on proper management — Flesh used for various 
purposes. 

The history of the hog is exceedingly interesting. 
Youatt says: "As far back as the records of history 
enable us to go, the hog appears to have been known 
and his flesh made use of as food. Fourteen hun- 
dred and ninety-one years before Christ, Moses gave 
those laws to the Israelites, which have occasioned so 
much discussion and given rise to many opinions." 

Pliny informs us that the Romans gave much at- 
tention to swine, and that they fed them on dried 
figs, and drenched them to repletion with honeyed 

m 



10 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

wine, in order to produce a diseased and monstrous- 
sized liver. "The Porcus Trojanus, so called in allu- 
sion to the Trojan horse, was a very celebrated dish, 
and one that eventually became so extravagantly 
expensive that a sumptuary law was passed respect- 
ing it." 

Varro states that the Gauls produced the largest 
and finest swine's flesh that was brought into Italy; 
and, according to Strabo, in the reign of Augustus 
they supplied Rome and nearly all Italy with gam- 
mons, hog-puddings, hams, and sausages. This na- 
tion and the Spaniards appear to have kept immense 
droves of swine, but scarcely any other kind of live 
stock. 

Thus it wiU be seen that among the ancients the 
hog was held in high esteem. "In fact the hog was 
held in nearly as high esteem among the early na- 
tions of Europe, and some of the ancients have even 
paid it divine honors." "In the island of Crete it 
was regarded as sacred. This animal was always 
sacrificed to Ceres at the beginning of harvest, and 
to Bacchus at the commencement of the vintage, by 
the Greeks, probably because this animal is equally 
hostile to the growing corn and the ripening grape." 

The Jews, the Egyptians, and the followers of 
Mohammed, appear alone to have abstained from 
it. But although the Jews abstained from eating 



HISTORY OF THE HOG. 11 

the flesh of the hog, yet they gave much attention 
to rearing of swine for profit. Allusions are found 
in the New Testament which go to confirm this, 
and nothing in the Mosaic law prohibits them from 
doing so. 

Martin says: "At what period the hog was re- 
claimed, or by what nation, we can not tell. As far 
back as history goes, we find notices of this animal, 
and of the uses of its flesh for food. By some na- 
tions it was held in abhorrence and prohibited as 
food, while among others its flesh was accounted 
a great delicacy." 

Youatt, in his valuable work on the hog, says: 
"From the earliest times in our own island (Eng- 
land) the hog has been regarded as a very impor- 
tant animal, and vast herds were tended by swine- 
herds, who watched over their safety in the woods, 
and collected them at night under shelter. Its 
flesh was the staple article of consumption in every 
household, and much of the wealth of the rich and 
free portions of the community consisted in these 
animals." 

In all nations, with a few exceptions, this animal 
has received attention, either for food or for profit. 
In England, above all other countries, the hog has 
been brought to the highest state of perfection by 

wise course of breeding and management, and our 



12 TREATISE ON THE HUG. 

finest and best breeds in this country have been im- 
ported from England. 

The value of the hog to the world can scarcely 
be overestimated. Its flesh constitutes one of the 
great staple articles of food for the millions of all 
countries. The hog is easily reared, and is among 
the most prolific of animals, even under adverse 
circumstances, and with good treatment and proper 
management is the most profitable animal in exist- 
ence. 

It is difficult to understand what the poor would do 
for this kind of food but for the hog. It furnishes 
the most abundant and consequently the cheapest 
animal food. Its flesh and its products are almost, 
if not absolutely, necessary to every household in 
America. In various forms its flesh is shipped to 
nearly every seaport in the world, and is the source 
of immense wealth, both personal and national. It 
forms part of the mess of the soldier, the sailor, the 
farmer, the mechanic, the laborer, the high and the 
low, the rich and the poor, the prince and peasant; 
its flesh is the most appetizing food in the world; 
its fat supplies fuel for our bodies, and the waste 
caused by the laborer in his daily toil. 

Perhaps the flesh of no other animal is so univers- 
aUy relished as that of the hog ; nor is the flesh of any 
other animal used for so great variety of purposes. 



HiSTOilY OJb' THE HOU. 13 

One of the greatest boons to the New World was 
the introduction of the hog into it. It is not a 
native of this continent, belonging, as naturalists in- 
form us, to the order Pachydermita, genus Suida or 
Sus. This order of animal is only found in a 
tropical climate; thus the elephant, rhinoceros, and 
hog are found existing naturally in the same country 
and climate. Being a native of a high southern 
climate, it follows that he is obliged to be accli- 
mated in our northern states before he could become 
profitable, and even then is by no means as prolific 
and profitable as in the milder regions of our 
middle and southern states; and this observation is 
borne out by the fact that the number reared in the 
latter section is greatly in excess over that of the 
northern section. The number of hogs reared in 
the State of Georgia, in the year 1860, was one 
fifteenth of the whole number reared in the United 
States; viz., 2,036,116 (Patent Office Report, 1860). 
One of the chief products of Kentucky, Tennessee, 
Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio consists of hogs, yielding 
these states annually many millions of dollars, 
besides furnishing their millions of inhabitants with 
the greatest abundance of animal food. The Patent 
Office Report for the year 1866 shows that there 
were in the United States about 35,500,000 hogs; 
in 1867, from the same source, we learn that there 



14 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

were 30,000,000, estimated to be worth about $134, | 
111,424; this estimate is doubtless rather below 
than above the truth. 

The number reared annually has varied very much, f I 
owing to a variety of causes, but chiefly in conse- 
quence of disease brought about by bad manage- 
ment, and the severe winters in our northwestern 
states, where these animals are raised in great 
numbers. 

An animal so exceedingly valuable ought to com- 
mand the earnest attention of every one, whether 
he be a consumer, speculator, or producer. 

It must, however, be confessed by those who are 
at all acquainted with the facts in the case, that no 
animal of half its value receives so little care and 
attention from his master and owner as the hog. 
This arises from the fact that it is thought by many 
that the hog really requires but little attention; 
anything is thought to be good enough for him. 
He is regarded (as he is) as an omnivorous animal, 
and is consequently made a scavenger for town and 
country. Nothing is thought to be too filthy for 
him to eat, and scarcely any attention is given to 
his comfort, and the wintry winds and pelting snows 
mercilessly beat upon him. The horse, the cow, 
and the sheep are provided with a shelter from the 
cold blasts of winter, though better able by nature 



HISTORY OF THE HOG, 15 

to endure it than he; yet the poor hog is left to 
provide for himself a bed, and sometimes even food, 
as best he may; hence they crowd together in the 
vain effort to keep warm, while pjany of them 
perish either from cold or suffocation. Many farm- 
ers do not know, or if they do know it ignore the 
fact already stated, that the hog has been trans- 
planted from a warm, genial climate, and is there- 
fore illy prepared to endure the extreme cold of the 
northern section of our country. Thus it is that 
hundreds of thousands of these valuable animals 
are annually swept away by disease and exposure. 

If the humanity of those who rear them can not 
be touched, their cupidity, it would seem, ought 
to prompt them to a more rational course. To the 
author it seems simply certain that nearly all the 
diseases to which the hog is subject is due to mis- 
management on the part of the raiser. The testi- 
mony on this point is ample, and will be fully set 
forth in the proper place. The above declaration is 
not hastily made, but after much study and obser- 
vation; not confined to his own neighborhood and 
county, but from somewhat extensive travel and 
inquiry in several of the best hog-growing states 
of the Union. 

It is of the greatest importance for every hog- 
raiser to make himself acquainted with the nature 



16 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



a 



and habits and peculiarities of this animal, in order 
that he may understand how to manage it, so that 
he shall derive both pleasure and profit thereby. 

There is another view of this matter most impor- 
tant, to which the author begs to call the attention 
of the reader; viz., the importance of healthy meats. 
There can be no question that diseased food, whether 
animal or vegetable, must produce like results in 
those who consume it. Can any one doubt, for 
example, that hogs infested by those terrible little 
animals, trichinae, or those suffering from that great 
scourge, "hog cholera," so-called, can be eaten 
without producing, in numerous instances, disas- 
trous results? The very thought of introducing 
this kind of food into the stomach is revolting and 
disgusting in the extreme. There can be no doubt 
that this poisoned material in these choleraed hogs 
is injurious; some of our low forms of disease are 
no doubt produced in this way. It must be con- 
fessed that farmers are not all scrupulous about 
sending these diseased, dying animals to market. 
Who can pretend to estimate the ill consequences 
of this wickedness to those who consume this de- 
caying, poisoned flesh? Hence the importance of 
being able to determine which is sound and which 
diseased. In another place this question will receive 
due attention. 



HISTORY OF THE HOG. 17 

In all civilized countries, the great question, How 
shall the poor be furnished with cheap, wholesome 
food, has commanded the attention of the wise and 
good. A large majority of the human race may be 
said to be poor; it is therefore an important question. 
The flesh of the hog furnishes one of the great 
staple articles of food to all classes, particularly in 
this country. 

For several years past meats of all kinds have 
been very dear, so much so that the poor have 
found it difficult to get it at all. This has been in 
a great degree due to the scarcity of hogs, and this 
scarcity was due to the immense number of these 
animals that have perished by disease. This scar- 
city, and consequently high price, must continue so 
long as these animals are swept away by disease 
and bad treatment, and the mouths of the poor go 
unfilled except by inferior or diseased meats. 

Much might be said in regard to the varieties of 
this useful animal. There has been much discussion 
as to the best breeds of the hog; doubtless each 
have their good points. It is not the purpose of 
the author to settle th^se disputes; he does not 
undertake to decide which is the best, but would 
simply say that much depends upon the object the 
raiser has in view. Some supply the daily market 

of our cities. When this is the design, the smaller 

2 



18 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

variety will best suit; but if for packing or for bacon, 
then the larger breeds are unquestionably best. But, 
after all, each raiser must decide this question for 
himself. This question will perhaps be more fully 
discussed as the work proceeds. 

It may not be out of place here to allude to some 
of the traits and pecuharities of the hog. The 
author acknowledges himself indebted to Youatt, 
Martin, and others for much of interest on these 
points. "Too low an estimate is placed upon the 
sagacity of the hog," says Youatt. "It is supposed 
to be a sluggish, stupid, filthy animal; on the con- 
trary, he has repeatedly shown himself to be exceed- 
ingly sagacious, and often quite intelligent. Many 
anecdotes illustrative of this could be related. But 
it is true that his chief business is to eat, sleep, 
drink, and grow fat. All his wants in this respect, 
in his domesticated state, are cared for (or ouglit to 
be), and his world is limited to the precincts of his 
sty or the farm-yard; yet, in this state of luxurious 
ease, individuals have shown extraordinary intelli- 
gence." 

As to his filthiness, it will be interesting to those 
who have given but little attention to the habits of 
the hog, to quote the words of one or two of the best 
writers and observers on this point. Youatt says : 
"It may appear absurd to claim cleanliness as a 



HISTORY OF THE HOG. 19 

swinish virtue ; but, in point of actual fact, the 
pig is a much more cleanly animal than most of his 
calumniators give him credit for being. He is fond 
of a good, clean bed, and often, when this is not pro- 
vided for him, it is curious to see the degree of sagac- 
ity with which he will forage for himself." "A hog 
is the cleanest of all creatures, and will never dung or 
stale in his sty if he can get forth," says a quaint old 
writer of the sixteenth century; and we are very 
much of his opinion. But it is so much the habit 
to believe that this animal may be kept in any state 
of filth and neglect, that ^'pig" and "pig-sty" are 
terms usually regarded as synonymous with all that 
is dirty and disgusting. His rolling in the mud is 
alleged against him as proof of his filthy habits; if 
so, the same accusation apphes to the elephant, the 
rhinoceros, and all other of the Pachydermaia, May 
it not rather be for the cooHng of themselves and 
keeping off flies, as we admit it to be in the case of 
the animals above mentioned? Savages cover them- 
selves with grease in hot chmates in order to protect 
their skins; may not instinct teach animals to roll 
themselves in mud for a similar purpose? Pigs are 
exceedingly fond of comfort and warmth, and will 
nestle closely together in order to obtain the latter, 
and often struggle vehemently to secure the warmest 
berth. 



20 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

Every one knows witli what sagacity pigs provide 

for an approaching cold "snap." When storms are 

overhanging, they collect straw in their mouths, and 

rmi about with great activity, as if warning their 

companions to prepare for the approaching storm. 

Hence has arisen the common Wiltshire saying, 

"Pigs see the wind." Virgil, in enumerating the 

signs of settled weather, notices this peculiarity in 

swine — 

"Now sows unclean are mindful to provide 
Their nestling beds of mouth-collected straw." 

"In their domesticated state," says Youatt, "swine 
certainly are very greedy animals. Eating is the 
business of their lives ; nor do they appear to be deli- 
cate as to the kind or quality of the food which is 
set before them. Although naturally herbivorous 
animals, they have been known to devour carrion 
with all the avidity of beasts of prey, to eat and 
mangle infants, and even gorge their appetites with 
theu' own young." 

All this is accounted for by another writer, whose 
views commend themselves to the common sense and 
justice of all. 

Low, an able writer, says: "Instances have oc- 
curred in which a sow has been known to devour 
her young; but rarely, if ever, does this happen in a 
state of nature. It is not unreasonable to believe that 



HISTORY OF THE HOG. 21 

when an act so revolting does occur, it arises more 
from the pain and irritation produced by the state 
of confinement and often filth in which she is kept, 
and the disturbances to which she is subject, than 
from any actual ferocity? for it is well known that 
a sow is always unusually irritable at this period, 
snapping at all animals that approach her. If she 
is gently treated, properly supphed with sustenance, 
and sequestered from all annoyance, there is little 
danger of this ever happening. Roots and fruits are 
the natural food of the hog, in a wild as well as in a 
domesticated state, and it is evident that, however 
omnivorous this animal may occasionally appear, its 
palate is by no means insensible to the difference 
of eatables; for whenever it finds variety it will be 
found to select the best with as much cleverness as 
other quadrupeds r 

"In the peach-tree orchards of North America," 
says Peunaut, "where hogs have plenty of delicious 
food, they have been observed to neglect the fruit 
that has lain a few hours upon the ground, and 
patiently wait for a considerable time for a fresh 
windfall." 

According to Linnseus, "the hog is more nice in 
the selection of his A^egetable diet than any of our 
other domesticated herbivorous animals." This great 
naturalist states that the hog is more choice in his 



22 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

selection, than either the cow, goat, sheep, or horse. 
This is shown in the following table : 

The cow eats 276 plants and rejects 218. 
The goat " 449 " " " 126. 

The sheep " 387 " " " 141. 

The horse " 262 " " " 212. 
The hog " 72 " " " 171. 

Thus it will be seen that the hog is a much more 
choice animal than many persons would have been 
willing to admit. 

These animals have also a very keen sense of 
smell, and are thus enabled to discover roots, acorns, 
earth-nuts, etc., buried in the ground; "and in Italy 
are employed in hunting for truffles that grow some 
inches below the surface of the soil." 

"The last charge which we shall attempt to re- 
fute," says Youatt, "is that of intractability." All 
the offenses which swine commit are attributed to 
an innately bad disposition; whereas they too often 
arise solely from bad management or total neglect. 
Would horses or cattle behave one iota better were 
they treated as pigs too often are? They are legiti- 
mate objects for the sport of idle boys, hunted with 
dogs, pelted with stones, often neglected and obliged 
to fin<l a meal for themselves, or wander about half 
starved. Can we wonder that under such circum- 
stances they should be wild, unmanageable brutes? 



HlSTOllY OF THE HOG. 23 

Look at the swine in a well-regulated farm-yard; they 
are as peaceable and as little disposed to wander or 
trespass as any of the other animals that it contains. 
Here, as in many other things, man is but too willing 
to attribute the faults which are essentially of his own 
causing to any other than their true source. 

Martin says : " It has been usual to condemn the 
domestic hog in no very measured terms as a filthy, 
stupid brute, at once gluttonous, obstinate, and des- 
titute of intelligence. Against this sweeping cen- 
sure we beg leave to enter our protest. With regard 
to the filthiness of the hog in a state of confine- 
ment, every thing will depend on the trouble taken 
by its keeper. He may allow the sty or the yard 
to be covered with filth of every description, as 
disgraceful to himself as it is injurious to the ani- 
mals. In this case the hog is the sufferer, for natur- 
ally it delights in clean straw, luxuriating in it with 
evident pleasure ; its twinkling little eyes and low 
grunt expressing its feelings of contentment. In 
fact, the hog, so far from being the filthiest, is one 
of the cleanest of our domestic quadrupeds, and is 
unwilling to soil the straw-bed of his domicile if 
anything like liberty be allowed him." The above 
quotations will commend themselves as simple state- 
ments of facts. It* is with the hog, as with other 
domestic animals, "like master like stock." 



24 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

The viciousness, filthiness, and other bad quali- 
ties of the hog are in a great measure due to their 
bad management, and absolute neglect of the wants 
which they can not supply themselves; for, as has 
already been shown, in a state of nature before they 
were domesticated, none of these exceedingly bad 
qualities were found to exist among them, and must 
therefore be justly attributed to the treatment they 
have received in their domesticated state. 

One of the prime objects of the following pages 
is to fully set forth, that everything depends upon 
the management of this excellent animal; that he 
can not be made healthy and profitable, and at the 
same time give to the world sound, healthy, abun- 
dant, cheap food, unless this matter is understood by 
those who are his managers and owners. The health 
and happiness of millions depends upon the manner 
of his handling. 

The author may be permitted to say that filthy, 
stupid, and intractable as he is thought by many to 
be, there is no way of truly estimating his value to 
the world. His flesh, lard, oil, hide, hair, bristles, 
and bone are all used, some for food, and other parts 
serve to supply indispensable wants of civilized 
humanity. It is pleasant to know that this much- 
abused animal has had a few admirers in the literary 
world, for even poets, both ancient and modern, have 



HISTORY OF THE HOG. 25 

not overlooked him. The reader will no doubt be 
amused with the following witty and sensible piece 
copied from the '^ Louisville Real Estate Bulletin :" 

THE HOG. By J. C. Milne. 

We sing the Hog! — not those in common sties, 
But that which roamed unpenned in Paradise, 
And furnished — next to that "best gift," dear madame — 
An extra spare rib for old Father Adam. 
But if you doubt, when Eden's garden fair 
Bloom'd fresh and lovely, that the pig was there, 
You '11 certainly allow (please do n't forget) 
He went with Noah in out of the wet; 
■ Yet there are some who this fact would dispute, 
And out of that old ark would crowd the brute! 

Said my friend Dean to me the other day, 
(My friend, the treasurer) in his Tauntin' way, 
How can you prove, sir, that in Noah's boat 
The hog was gathered with the sheep and goat? 
Of that, quoth I, one can not be mistaken. 
For was n't it then that Noah saved his bacon ; 
And did he not, though on the surging brine. 
Have his Ham there whene'er he chose to dine ? 
Dean ceased to bristle — 'lowed 'twas even so. 
The "critter" fip'ured at that cattle-show! 



'&" 



O, much abused and much despised beast! 

Men slight thee most who know thy merits least; 

Who would make light of thee should try thee first, 

Then with thy praise they inter-lard their verse. 

Without thy presence at the festive board, 

Tickling the palate of creation's lord, 

In bake or fry, or even in a stew, 

Pray what could we or our good housewives do?- 



26 TlUOATiSE Oi\ THE HOG. 

Sore grief would seize on many a bosom stout, 
If perchance the hog should once "step out," 
And life become, 'mid all its varying scenes, 
liike Sunday morning without pork and beans! 

On beef and mutton Englishmen expand, 
But pork 's the crowning glory of our land; 
Pigs are true patriots — in the Buckeye State 
They die to make her Cincinnati great. 
Pork to the Jew is every way unclean, 
Howe'er prepared, with or without his bean. 
Though Paul felt free from Moses here to swerve, 
The Jew still deems it binding to observe. 
We go with Paul, as every one supposes, 
As for the Jew, why — he may go to Moses! 



THE WIL[> BOA II. 



27 



CHAPTER II. 



THE WILD BOAR. 

Description of him — Goes in search of his food at night — Sense of smell 
— Manner of defending herd against enemies — Their age — Solitary 
habits when old — Habits of the female — They farrow but once a year — 
Laws to protect the boar for the chase — Hogs introduced into Amer- 
ica — Number and value in the United States. iW 

It is generally agreed that all our domesticated 
hogs, of every variety, have sprung originally from 




WILD BOAR. 



the wild boar. This animal, in his native state, is an 
exeeedino^lv wild, intractable beast, and one of the 



28 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

most vicious and dangerous of all the wild animals of 
the jungles and forests of India and other countries. 
The preceding cut gives a very good idea of the w^ild 
boar, and needs but to be seen to convince one of his 
ferocity. " This animal," says Youatt, " is generally 
of a dusky brown or iron-gray color, inclining to f | 
black, and diversified with black spots or streaks. 
The body is covered with coarse hair, intermixed 
with a downy wool ; these hairs become bristles as 
they approach the neck and shoulders, and are here 
so long as to form a species of mane, which the ani- 
mal erects when irritated. The head is short; the 
forehead broad and flat; the ears short, rounded at 
the tips, and inchned toward the neck; the jaws 
armed with sharp, crooked tusks, which curve sHghtly 
upward, and are capable of inflicting fearful wounds ; 
the eye full ; neck thick and muscular ; the shoulder 
high; the loins broad; the tail stiff, finished off with 
a tuft of bristles at the tip ; the haunch well turned, 
and the legs strong. A full-grown wild boar in India 
averages from thirty to forty inches in height at the 
shoulder. The African wild boar is about twenty- 
eight or thirty inches high. The wild boar is a very 
active and powerful animal, and becomes fiercer as he 
grows older. When he exists in a state of nature, he 
will usually be found in moist, shady, and well-wooded 
situations, not far remote from streams of water. In 



THE WILD BOAR. 29 

India they are found in the thick jungles, in planta- 
tions of sugar-canes, rice or rhus, or in the thick 
patches of high, long grass." * 

" In England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain 
their resorts have been in the woods and forests. 
They seldom quit their coverts during the day, but 
prowl about in search of food during twilight and the 
night. Their acute sense of smell enables them to 
detect the presence of roots or fruits deeply imbed- 
ded in the soil, and they often do considerable mis- 
chief by plowing up the ground in search of them, 
particularly as they do not, like the common hog, root 

''' " The wild hog delights in cultivated situations, but will 
not remain where water is not at hand, in which he can 
quench his thirst and wallow at his ease ; nor will he resort 
a second season to a spot that does not afford ample cover, 
either of heavy grass or underwood jungle, within a cer- 
tain distance of him, to fly to in case of molestation, and 
especially to serve as a retreat during the hot season, as 
otherwise he would find no shelter. The sugar-cane is his 
great delight, both as affording his favorite food and yield- 
ing a highly impervious and unfrequented situation. In 
these the hogs and breeding sows especially commit great 
devastation; for the latter not only devour but cut the 
canes for a litter, and to throw up a species of hut, which 
they do with much art, leaving a small entrance, which 
they can stop up at pleasure. Sows never quit their young 
pigs without completely shutting them up. This is, how- 
ever, requisite for a few days, after which the little ones 
may be seen following their mother, at a good round pace, 
though evidently not more than a week or ten days old/' 
(Williams's Oriental Field Sports.) 



oO TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

up a little spot, here and there, but plow long con- 
tinued furrows." 

The wild boar, properly so called, is neither a sol- 
itary nor a gregarious animal. For the first two or 
three years the whole herd follows the sow, and all 
unite in defense against any enemies, calling upon 
each other with loud cries in case of emergency, and 
forming in regular line of battle, the weakest occu- 
pying the rear. But when arrived at maturity, the 
animals wander alone, as if in perfect consciousness of 
their strength, and appear as if they neither sought 
nor avoided any living creature. They are said to 
hve about thirty years. As they grow old, the hair 
becomes gray, and the tusks begin to show symp- 
toms of decay. Old boars are rarely found associ- 
ating with a herd, but seem to keep apart from the 
rest and from each other. 

The female produces but one litter in the year, and 
her litters are much smaller in number than those of 
the domesticated pig. She carries her young sixteen 
or twenty weeks, and generally is only seen with the 
male during the rutting season. She suckles her 
young for several months, and continues to protect 
them for some time afterward; if attacked then she 
will defend herself and them with exceeding courage 
and fierceness. Many sows will often be found herd- 
ing together, each followed by her litter of young 



THE WILD BOAR. ^ 31 

ones, and in such parties they are exceedingly formi- 
dable to man and beast. Neither they nor the boar, 
however, appear to want to attack any thing ; but only 
when roused by aggression, or disturbed in their re- 
treat, do they turn upon their enemies, and manifest 
their mighty strength with which nature has endowed 
them; otherwise they pursue their way in a kind of 
solitary, savage majesty. Occasionally, when two 
males encounter each other, a fierce and furious battle 
will ensue, especially if this happen during the rut- 
ting season, when their passions are inflamed. 

" When attacked by dogs, the wild boar sullenly 
retreats, turning upon them, from time to time, and 
menacing them with his tusks ; but gradually his ire 
rises, and at length he stands at bay, fights furiously 
for his life, and tears and rends his persecutors. He 
has even been o])served to single out the most tor- 
menting of them and rush savagely upon him. 

" Hunting the wild boar has been a favorite sport 
in almost all the countries in which this animal was 
found, from the earliest ages. The Avild boar formed 
part of the sports, pageants, and wild-beast shows 
and fights of the Romans." 

During the middle ages hunting the wild boar 
formed the amusement of the nobility in most Euro- 
pean countries. The dogs provided for this sport 
were of the slow, heavy kind, anciently known by 



32 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

the name of the 'boar-hound.' None but the largest 
and oldest boars were hunted, and these afforded a 
very exciting and often dangerous sport, lasting for 
many hours ; for when first the animal was ^ reared' 
he contented himself with slowly going away, just 
keeping ahead of his pursuers, and apparently caring 
but little for them, and pausing every half mile to 
rest himself and give battle to his assailants, who 
are, however, too wary to advance upon him until he 
becomes tired ; then he takes his final stand, and the 
dogs and hunters surround him, and a mortal combat 
ensues, in which the beast eventually falls a victim. 

'^ Many of the forests in our own country (Eng- 
land) were infested by wild boars. The Anglo- 
Saxons seem, from the rude frescoes and prints which 
are handed down to us, to have hunted this animal on 
foot, with no weapon but the boar-spear, and attended 
by powerful dogs ; and apparently Avith such success 
that at the Norman Conquest William I. thought it 
necessary to make some strict laws for the preserva- 
tion of the beast of the chase. The period for hunt- 
ing the wild boar among the Anglo-Saxons was in 
September. Howell Dha, the celebrated Welsh law- 
giver, gave permission to his chief to chase the boar 
from the middle of November imtil the end of De- 
cember." 

These animals continued to linger in the forests of 



THE WILD BOAR. 33 

England and Scotland for several centuries after 
the Norman Conquest, and many tracts of land have 
derived their name from this occurrence; while in- 
stances of valor in their destruction are recorded in 
the heraldic devices of many a noble family. 

Fitzstephen, a writer of the twelfth century, in- 
forms us that wild boars, stags, fallow-deer, and bulls 
abounded in the vast forests which existed on the 
northern side of London in the time of Henry II. 
The learned Whittaker informs us that this animal 
roved at liberty over the woods of the parish of Man- 
chester for many centuries after the Eomans de- 
parted from that station, and hence the name of 
Barlow (boar-ground) came to be assigned to a dis- 
trict in the south-western portion. In Cumberland 
the appellation " Wild Boar's Fell " still points out 
the shire of Stainmore, in Westmoreland, and those 
extensive woody districts which once existed in 
Hertfordshire and over the Chiltem Hills were for- 
merly peopled with wild boars, wolves, stags, and 
wild buUs. 

Many ancient Scottish writers too speak of the 
existence of this animal in the woods of Caledonia. 
In the county of Fife there exists a tract of country 
formerly called Muckross (which, in the Celtic, sig- 
nifies Boar's Promontory). It is said to have been 
famous as the haunt of the wild boar. One part of 



34 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

it was called the Boar Hills, which name has since 
been corrupted into Byro Hills. It lies in the vicin- 
ity of St. Andrews, and in the Cathedral church of 
that city two enormous boar's tusks were formerly to 
be seen, chained to the high altar, in commemoration 
of an immense brute slain by the inhabitants after 
it had long ravaged the surrounding country. 

In America, Australia, and the Polynesian Group, 
the hog was unknown originally in a natural condi- 
tion; but having been turned out everywhere by 
the early navigators, who discovered the coasts and 
islands of the Pacific, he has propagated his species 
so rapidly in these mild and moist latitudes that he 
is now everywhere abundant, both in confinement 
and in a state of nature.* 

Swine were probably introduced from Spain into 
Hispaniola, by Columbus, in 1493 ; into Florida, by 
De Soto, in 1538 ; into Nova Scotia and New Found- 
land, in 1553 ; into Canada, in 1608 ; and into Vir- 
ginia, in 1609, where they multiplied so rapidly that 
in eighteen years the people were obliged to palisade 
Jamestown to keep them out.f From these points 
the hog has been carried to all parts of North Amer- 
ica, and although he thrives best in a warm, genial 

*Ncw American Cyclopedia, Yol. III. 
fNew American Cyclopedia, A^ol. III. 



THE WILD BOAll. 35 

climate, yet, like man, he becomes accustomed to all 
climates and countries. 

The generative power of this animal is truly as- 
tonishing; it is, indeed, one of the most proHfic of 
the animal creation. Yauban tells us that a single 
sow, with only six young at a time, in ten genera- 
tions, wni produce 6,500,000, of which 500,000 may 
be deducted on account of accidental death.* 

Sweeping over a long period, from the time they 
were first introduced down to the year 1856, and 
notwithstanding the vicissitudes of disease and bad 
management through which they have passed, there 
were in that year the enormous number of 40,000,- 
000 of these animals in the United States alone, the 
value of which, at seven dollars a head, would amount 
to $280,000,000. If this animal, whose flesh, fat, 
hair, and bones are so valuable, can be improved even 
to the amount of one dollar for every animal, what 
an immense sum will be realized to the farmer ! f 

*New American Cyclopedia, Yol. IX. 
■{-New American Cyclopedia, Yol. IX. 



36 



TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



CHAPTER III. 

DOMESTICATION— DIFFERENT BREEDS. 

Different breeds crossed and recrossed to improve the stock — Names 
applied to the breeds produced — First improved breeds imported to 
America a present to Washington — Caution against imposition in 
selecting blooded hogs — Improved breeds at county fairs — Selection 
of breeds — Color, etc, 

From the wild hog abeady spoken of the domes- 
tic hog, wherever found, has sprung. But at what 




THE IMPROVED HOG, 



time cross-breeding for the improvement of the wild 
anunal began we are not certainly informed. We 
are told " that the ancient Romans made the art of 
breeding a study." 



DOMESTICATION. 37 

England seems to have taken the lead in the im- 
provement of the various breeds of swine. The 
swine-raisers of the different provinces of England 
have selected the fine-boned hogs of China to cross 
with the larger breeds of England and other coun- 
tries. In fact, they have selected and crossed and 
recrossed the different breeds from different countries, 
and have been remarkably successful in producing 
hogs that yield the most pork and lard with the 
least possible amount of food. In this way the 
various names have arisen. As each province or 
shire or county produced a new variety, a new 
name was given; thus we have Berkshire, Suffolk, 
Essex, etc. 

Few breeds of the present day have the names 
of their native country, and show few if any marks 
of the original stock. We have no accurate knowl- 
edge in regard to the breeds first brought to America, 
or their history afterward; only that they increased 
rapidly, and from the abundance of herbs, roots, 
nuts, etc., they kept in such good condition that 
they made good pork and bacon with but little if 
any additional food. 

The first hogs of the improved kind brought to 
this country, of which we have any exact account, 
is the Woburn or Bedford, which Avere sent by the 
Duke of Bedford to General Washington as a present. 



38 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

and were produced at Woburn, England, by a cross 
of the Chinese boar and a large English hog.* 

While we would encourage the raising of the 
improved breeds only, we wish to caution buyers h 
against imposition. It is now a very common thing 
to see advertisements of blooded hogs for sale, and 
often too at very high figures. Many of these ad- 
vertised hogs are all that is claimed for them no 
doubt, while others are very far from it, and are 
little if any better than a cross with the common 
rough hog, but kept in fine condition, and sold under 
false representations to persons at a distance, or to 
those who know but little about stock, and are un- 
able to judge whether the animal has the points of 
the improved hog or not. In order to illustrate this 
the author will, he hopes, be pardoned for relating 
the following anecdote. 

A prominent Kentucky farmer took a great fancy 
to the Chester white hog, now so popular with 
many farmers. He went to an adjoining state and 
purchased a young boar; the pig was in splendid 
condition — was, in a word, fat and fine ; he prepared 
suitable quarters for his pigship's accommodation 
and comfort. Our friend took great pleasure and 
pains to show his new purchase to his admiring 
neighbors ; he grew eloquent in his description of 

^Now American Cyolopedia. Yol. TX. 



DOMESTICATION. 39 

the little boar and the results to follow in the im- 
provement of his herd, and how much better this 
animal was than his old common kind. Some of his 
auditors were, however, rather skeptical in regard to 
the matter. Our friend had some nice young boars 
which to our skeptical friends bore a marvelous like- 
ness to his new Chester boar — they were the same 
size, color, and in many respects favored the nevv^ 
comer. Some young men wdio had heard him des- 
cant on the beauties of the new boar for a week or 
two, determined to test the matter, and they were 
mischievous enough to catch one of the young boars 
of the old stock and put him in the place of the 
Chester, and put him with the herd, first putting a 
mark on him by which they w^onld easily recognize 
him. The owner continued to boast of his Chester 
boar and show him to his friends without noticing 
the change ; when informed of the trick he could 
scarcely be made to believe that he could have been 
so deceived. Now the plain fact in the case was 
he had been deceived; he had only a good common 
boar, and no Chester white at all; and did not, in 
fact, know enough about the essential features of 
that animal by which he could have easily deter- 
mined the point ; thus he had relied upon the name 
and not upon the qualities of the hog. In this way 
doubtless many farmers arQ deceived. The author 



40 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

hopes the anecdote just related may furnish a hint to 
badly-informed buyers of stock for breeding purposes. 

Upon this point Beaty gives the following good 
advise : " I would now desire to caution the reader 
against being led away by mere name in his selec- 
tion of a pig. A pig may be called a Berkshire, or 
a Suffolk, or any other breed most in estimation, and 
yet may in reality possess none of this valuable 
blood. The only sure mode by which the buyer will 
be able to avoid imposition is to make name always 
secondary to points. If you find a pig possessed 
of such points of form as are calculated to insure 
early maturity and facility of taking flesh, you need 
care httle what it has seemed good to the seller 
to call him, and remember that no name can bestow 
value upon an animal deficient in the qualities to zuhich 
I have alluded!' * 

It is a fact, as the author has many times verified, 
that hogs of the same name differ widely in differ- 
ent localities, and indeed many of these were no 
better than the common hog. 

For the last half century pork has formed one of 
the principal articles of commerce, and the produc- 
tion of this article has given employment to millions 
of laborers. The great ohject in this matter of breeds, 
and the improvement of breeds of hogs, has been to 
* Agriculture and Domestic Animals. 



DOMESTICATION. 41 

secure such as were hardy, and such as would make 
the most pork and lard ivith the lead amount of food. 
With this object in view, the American farmer has 
perhaps tested most of the best breeds known with- 
out coming to any definite conclusion as to which 
is the best adapted to this very important purpose. 
This fact has been fully tested at the various state 
and county fairs, where the different breeds have 
competed for the prize; for at one or another of 
these fairs all of the improved breeds have taken 
the premium; so that no one of these breeds has 
been by anything like general consent decided supe- 
rior to all the rest. So that, after all, each one must 
determine for himself which one of the most es- 
teemed breeds he will raise, remembering that early 
maturity and facility of taking flesh are the great 
desiderata, and not the name, to be observed in 
making choice for breeding. 

The chief points which characterize such a pig 
are the following : In the first place, sufficient depth 
of carcass, and such an elongation of body as will 
insure a sufficient lateral expansion. Let the loin 
and breast be broad. The breadth of the former 
denotes good room for the play of the lungs, and a 
consequent free and healthy circulation essential to 
the thriving and fattening of any animal.* The bone 

*Beaty on Agriculture and Domestic Animals. 

4 



42 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

should be small and the joints fine; nothing is more 
indicative of high breeding than this; and the legs 
should be no longer than, when fully fat, would just 
prevent the animal's belly from trailing upon the 
ground. The leg is the least profitable portion of the 
hog, and we therefore require no more of it than is 
absolutely necessary for the support of the rest. 
See that the feet be firm and sound; that the toes lie 
well together and press straightly upon the ground ; 
as also, that the claws are even, upright, and 
healthy. * 

Many say that the form of the head is of little 
or no importance, and that a good pig may have an 
ugly head, it being no affair of anybody but of the 
animal himself who has to carry it; but I regard 
the head of all animals as one of the very princi- 
pal points in which pure or impure breeding will be 
the most obviously indicated. A high-bred animal 
will invariably be found to arrive more speedily at 
maturity, to take flesh earlier and with greater facil- 
ity, and altogether to turn out more profitably than 
one of the questionable or impure stock; and such 
being the case, I consider that the head of the hog 
is by no means a point to be overlooked by the in- 
tended purchaser. The description of head most 
likely to promise, or rather to be concomitant of 
*Bcaty on Agriculture and Domestic Animals. 



DOMESTICATION. 



43 



high breeding, is one not carrying heavy bone, not 
too flat on the forehead, or possessing a too elongated 
snout; indeed the snout should, on the other hand, 
be short, and the forehead rather convex, recurving 
upward, and the ear should be, while pendulous, 
inclining somewhat forward, and at the same time 
light and thin. Nor would I have the buyer even 
to pass over the carriage of the pig. If this be dull 
heavy, and dejected, I would be disposed to reject 
him on suspicion of ill health, if not of some con- 
cealed disorder actually existing, or just about to 
break forth ; and there can not be a more unfavorable 




UNIMPROVED HOG 



Symptom than a hung-down, slouching head, carried 
as though it were about to be employed as a fifth 
leg. Of course, if you are purchasing a fat hog for 
slaughter, or a sow heavy with young, you are 
scarcely to look for much sprightliness of deport- 



44 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

ment; but I am alluding more particularly to the 
purchase of young stores, the more general because 
the most profitable branch of pig management.* 

As to color, the author does not conceive it neces- 
sary to say much. In a general way, he believes 
that colored hogs are more hardy, and less liable to 
diseases of the skin than white, and that color should 
no longer be considered particularly characteristic of 
fine blood. If the hog is intended for home con- 
sumption, perhaps white should be chosen, on account 
of apparent cleanliness, but if for sale color is of but 
little consequence. There must of necessity be a 
diversity of taste and opinion on this subject, as 
every good breed has its advocates and admirers, 
regardless of color or other peculiarity. 

*Beatty'8 Agriculture and Domestic Animals. 



BREEDING. 45 



CHAPTER IV. 

BREEDING. 

Objects to be attained — To secure healthy and prolific hogs — Selections 
of breeders — Pigs inherit qualities of parents — Fecundity of breed- 
ers — In-and-in breeding — Proper age of breeders — Directions and 
advice of raisers — Time the sow carries her young — Abortion — Sows 
devour their young — Treatment of sows while suckling — Weaning — 
Proper time for farrowing. 

It is no part of the author's intention to attempt 
to give any special directions on breeding, or cross- 
breeding, with a view to the improvement of our 
already excellent varieties of hogs, for he is free to 
confess that this matter has not sufficiently engaged 
his attention ; but to give his experience and obser- 
vations, extending over many years, with the view 
I mainly of producing at the same time both healthy 
and prolific hogs. The author begs to call the read- 
er's especial attention to the following observations, 
for they embrace, not only his own experience, but 
also the experience of those deserving of the highest 
respect. Youatt, Beaty, and others will be quoted. 
This matter of breeding can not be too closely 
studied by those who would succeed in hog culture. 



46 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

Many evils and great losses have resulted from in- 
attention to this matter. Most of these evils may 
be obviated by careful attention to a few well recog- 
nized principles of breeding. The farmer has a 
right to expect the greatest and hed yield of the 
fruits of the ground, when he has given every atten- 
tion to the preparation of the soil, and due diligence 
to the cultivation of his crop ; it is no less true in 
regard to his domestic animals. It is a law of Na- 
ture that '"'like shall beget likeP so that if impure or 
imperfect seed be sown, the farmer can not expect a 
good crop nor a good article of grain. So too per- 
fectly healthy, thrifty animals can not be produced 
from unhealthy and imperfect parents. The first 
point therefore to be attended to is the selection of 
the male and female intended to be kept as breeders, 
and to those points characteristic of good breeders, 
the reader's attention is now directed. 

It is a generally admitted fact in the principles of 
breeding that the offspring usually inherit the bodily 
nnd constitutional qualities of one or both parents ; 
and in swine it is the boar whose qualities chiefly 
predominate in the offspring ; hence, it will be nec- 
essary most carefully to select the male animal.* 

" In the breeding of swine, as much as in that of 
any other live stock, it is important to pay great at- 

*Yoiiatl. 



BREEDING. 4:7 

tention not only to the breed, but also to the choice 
of individuals. The sow should produce a great 
number of young, and she must be well fed, to ena- 
ble her to support them. Some sows bring forth 
teuj twelve, or even fifteen at a birth, but eight or 
ten is the usual number, and sows which produce 
fewer than this must be rejected. It is, however, 
probable that fecundity depends also on the boar ; 
he should, therefore, be chosen from a race which 
multiplies quickly."* 

In selecting the parents of your future stock, you 
must diligently bear in mind the precise object you 
may have in view, whether the rearing be for pork 
or bacon, and whether you desire to meet the earliest 
market, and thus realize a certain profit, with the 
least possible outlay of money, or loss of time; or 
whether you mean to be contented to await a heavier, 
although somewhat protracted, return. 

If bacon and the late market be your object, you 
^\iU do weU to select the large and heavy varieties, 
taking care to ascertain that the breed has the char- 
acter of being at once possessed of those qualities 
most likely to answer a heavy return sure — namely, 
growth, and facility for taking fat. If, on the other 
hand, your object be to produce pork, you will of 
course find your account in the smaller varieties, 

*Thiier. 



48 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

such as arrive with greatest rapidity at maturity, 
and which are likely to produce the most delicate 
flesh. In producing pork it is not advisable that 
it should be too fat without a corresponding propor- 
tion of lean, and on this account I would recommend 
that you rather take a cross-breed sow than a pure 
Chinese stock, from which the over-fattening results 
might most naturally be apprehended. The Berkshire 
crossed with the Chinese is about the best porker.* 

In selecting the breed of hogs to raise from, the 
following rules should be observed, for upon them 
the success of the raiser wiU greatly depend: 1. If 
the object be to raise such as wiU be best adapted 
to packing, and such as will best suit the views of 
"pork packers," the large breeds, such as will mature 
in from one to two years, will be preferable, as the 
packers greatly prefer large hogs, and will pay a 
higher price for such than for the smaller variety. 

2. If the object be to supply the city or butchers' 
market, the small, fine-boned varieties will unques- 
tionably be the best for the reason that they matm'e 
early and take on fat with greater facility, indeed 
may be fattened on less food and at any age. 

3. But if the object be to raise for pork and ba- 
con for home consumption alone, we prefer a cross 
between the two extremes. 

* Beaty— Youatt. 



I 



BREEDING. 49 

The boar and sow should both be selected from 
healthy parents, and they themselves be without 
blemish or defect of any kind, and at the same time 
well adapted in regard to size and form to produce 
such animals in every f)articular as the raiser con- 
templates. The boar and sow should not be near 
of kin, or as Bailey expresses it, "breeding within 
too close degrees of consanguinity, or, as it is tech- 
nically styled, breeding ^in and in,' is calculated to 
produce degeneracy in size, and also to impair the 
animal's fertility." 

A good-sized sow is generally considered more 
likely to prove a good breeder and nurse, and to 
farrow more easily and safely, than a small, delicate 
animal. Few of our domestic animals suffer so much 
from being bred in and in as swine. Where this 
system is pursued, the number of young ones is 
decreased at every litter until the sows become in a 
manner barren. As soon as the slightest tendency 
to this degeneracy is observed, the breed should be 
crossed from time to time, keeping sight, however, 
while so doing, of the aim in view.* The author 
wishes to impress upon the reader the prime impor- 
tance of selecting none hut healthy animals for hreed^ 
ers ; if this be neglected, disappointment will certainly 
be the result. Closely connected with the latter is 
*Yoiiatt on the Hog. 



50 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 






another nearly equally important matter; namely, 
the too common habit of allowing the animal to breed 
at too early an age. The boar should not be used 
as a breeder until he is about ten months old, by 
this time, if he has been ff operly kept, his genera- 
tive powers are sufficiently developed to produce full 
and well-matured litters. At this age he should be 
allowed to make but one leap per day, for if he is 
allowed to run with the sows at will he will soon 
exhaust his powers as a breeder and produce a puny 
offspring. 

When his qualities as a breeder have been satis- 
factorily tested in a sufficient number of cases, if his 
pigs are too few in number or inferior in quality, he 
should at once be castrated, and his place supplied 
with another. No boar that has once been the 
subject of disease of any kind should ever be use'l 
as a breeder; they may and doubtless do sometimes 
fully recover and produce healthy pigs, but it is, to 
say the least, unsafe to risk it. The boar may be 
used as a breeder until the sows of his own get are 
to be used as breeders, when it would not be proper 
to keep him any longer, as this would be breeding 
in and in, which we have already condemned. It 
must not be inferred from the above that the boar 
has become worthless at so early an age, but it is 
believed that if he is properly managed his genera- 



BREEDING. 61 

tive powers remain good up to three or four years 
of age; indeed some writers affirm that this power is 
vigorous up to from five to eight years of age. Few 
persons, however, would be likely to keep a boar as 
a breeder longer than two or three years, as by this 
time they become vicious or lazy, and of but little 
utility as breeders. 

The sow should be kept separate from the boar 
till she is at least ten months old. If she has been 
well kept, by that time she will be able to bring 
forth and suckle her pigs. She should have at least 
ten or twelve teats, be lengthy in the belly, and 
loose in the flanks. Such sows will usually have 
more and better pigs than short, close-made ones. 
In addition to this they are better sucklers; their 
food goes to milk, whereas in the other fat is pro- 
duced, and the offspring do not thrive. 

There is perhaps as much difference in the breeding 
power of the sow as of the boar, and when they have 
been tried twice and are not found to be prolific, or 
the pigs puny, they should be rejected as unthrifty 
breeders. 

When several sows are in heat at the same time, 
one or two at the most should be served per day. 
My experience teaches me that where both sow and 
boar are in good condition, and the boar is not allowed 
too frequent intercourse with the sows, that one con- 



52 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

nectioii is sufficient to produce full litters, and on no 
occasion is more than two leaps necessary. If they 
are allowed to run together at will, the generative 
power of the boar is greatly impaired by being over- 
taxed, and the last sows served will have fewer pigs 
than the first, and these quite inferior. 

After conception the sow needs but little more 
attention than common stock hogs. They should 
have a free run to grass, woods, range, etc., as exer- 
cise at such time is much better for the animal than 
confinement. 

In addition to' the food which they are enabled to 
pick up they should have enough given them to keep 
them in fair condition, but by no means fat. Care 
should be taken to prevent worry of any kind either 
from fast driving or being chased by dogs. 

Our observation teaches us that sows will carry 
their young from one hundred and twelve to one 
hundred and eighteen days; some writers affirm that 
the time of carrying their young varies from one 
hundred and nine to one hundred and forty days."^' 

"The period of gestation in the sow varies. The 
most usual period during which she carries her young 
is four lunar months, or sixteen weeks, or about one 
hundred and thirteen days. M. Tassier, of Paris, a 
gentleman who paid much attention to this subject, 
* Beaty on Agriculture and Domestic Animals. 



BREEDING. 53 

in connection not merely with swine but other 
animals, states that it varies from one hundred and 
nine to one hundred and forty-three days ; he formed 
his calculations from the attentive observation of 
twenty-five sows."* 

This matter of the time can be ascertained by 
carefully noting the time at which the sow was let 
to the boar; in this way a very close approximation 
to the time when she will farrow may be made. 
About ten days before the sow is expected to bring 
forth she should be separated from the other hogs, 
and if convenient she should have a run to grass, 
and be regularly though not highly fed. The food 
should be a nutritious, though unirritating and cool- 
ing, kind — such as milk from the dairy, bran-mash, 
kitchen-slops, etc. These will be quite sufficient as 
nourishment, and at the same time keep the bowels 
open. In addition to this there should be an abund- 
ance of pure water constantly and easily accessible. 
In this way fever is prevented at farrowing, which is 
a very common thing at this time. It would be well 
to see that the sow is rid of lice if these should be 
found upon her before the pigs come. Suitable beds 
should be prepared for her some days before she is 
expected to farrow; in this way she will have the 
straw, or whatever material is given her, worked up 
* Beaty on Agriculture and Domestic Animals. 



54 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

and made soft, so that the pigs will not become en- 
tangled and get injured or overlayed. When no note 
has been made of the time when the sow was let to 
the boar, we are left to mere guessing when the sow 
will farrow. Of course this will be uncertain; there 
is indeed no certain rules by which to judge with 
any degree of accuracy of the exact time. The size 
of the belly can not be relied upon, as many sows 
are naturally big-bellied. Perhaps the best sign is 
where the udder becomes distended Avith milk, which 
usually begins in from two to four weeks before the 
pigs are born. Careful observation in this particular 
will enable the owner to arrive at an approximation 
of the time. Young sows should have extra atten- 
tion at this time, because of their inexperience in 
taking care of their young. 

"On no account should several sows be permitted 
to farrow in the same place, as they will inevitably 
irritate each other, and devour their own or one 
another's young." * 

ABORTION. 

"This accident is by no means of so common 
occurence in the sow as in many of our other domes- 
ticated animals. There are various causes which will 
tend to produce it — insufficiency of food, eating too 
* Youalt on the Hog. 



BREEDING. 55 

much succulent vegetable food, or unwholesome and 
unsubstantial diet; blows and falls will also produce 
it." * There is another article which will undoubt- 
edly produce abortion — viz., spurred or blasted rye, 
and a gorge of flaxseed has at least once in the 
observation of the author produced it, and he has 
been informed that dog-wood berries produce it. It 
is well to bear these things in mind and avoid them. 

Young BOWS that get with pig prematurely before 
the generative organs have fully developed often 
abort, and in the author's observation this accident 
is much mere common in this class. " The symptoms 
indicative of appoaching abortion are similar to those 
of imrturitiori, only more intense. There is generally 
restlessness, irritation, and shiverings, and the cries 
of the animal testify the presence of severe labor- 
pains."''' 

^'Whenever one sow has aborted, the breeder 
should immediately look about for the causes likely 
to have induced this accident, and endeavor by re- 
raoving them to secure the rest of the pregnant sows 
fiom a similar fate." 

The treatment of a sow after abortion is in most 

lespects similar to that of sows who have brought 

forth their young at maturity. In the class already 

mentioned in which this accident happens most 

* Youatt on the Hog. 



56 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

frequently — viz., immature or imperfectly developed 
sows — scarcely any treatment will avail much. Of 
course, if they should be unable to bring forth with 
their unaided powers, assistance should be rendered 
them by taking away with the hand what it is im- 
possible for the womb to expel. Giving the animal as 
a drink flaxseed-tea, in which may be dissolved some 
Epsom salts, and removing everything that could in 
any manner irritate or disturb the animal, will be 
about all that need be done. When there is inatten- 
tion to comfort, especially in winter or spring, no 
shelter, no beds, and improper food, or it may be no 
food at all, which is too frequently the case, inflam- 
mation of the womb and lining membrane of the 
belly or other inflammation may be looked for, and 
much fatality expected. 

sows DEVOURING THEIR YOUNG. 

This is by no means of common occurrence; oc- 
casionally a sow will commit the unnatm^al act. One 
of the principal causes assigned for it is being irri- 
tated while giving birth, and subsequently to it. 
Be this as it may, the author has never had a sow 
that destroyed her young that ever failed to do so 
afterward. He therefore advises that a sow thus 
acting should not be allowed to breed any more. 



BREEDING. 57 

TREATMENT OF THE SOW WHILE SUCKLING. 

Too many farmers overlook the importance of this 
part of hog-culture. The sows are permitted, or 
rather compelled, to roam about in the fields and 
woods, and wherever she happens to be at the time of 
farrowing, she selects her place, makes her own bed 
of such materials as she may be able to gather up, 
and her whereabouts is often unknown to her owner 
till, driven by hunger, she " comes up " in search of 
food. It is frequently the case that the sow remains 
out till her pigs are able to follow her. Should she 
go home with too few or inferior pigs she is con- 
demned for being a bad breeder. How can it be 
expected that she should do otherwise than produce 
stunted pigs, and these few in number? 

But thus it is with many of our western farmers 
and hog-raisers. It is no wonder that many of these 
find hog-culture unprofitable. The sow comes up 
hungry; she has had nothing to eat for a week, or 
may be more, except what grass or roots she has 
been able to find in her eager search for food; but 
finally she is pinched with hunger, and she ventures 
home and receives a reward for her faithfulness in 
bringing up eight or ten pigs. She is given as much 
corn, slops, etc., as she can eat, and this she does 
ravenously; she becomes gorged; the stomach gels 



58 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



sick and rejects the food taken, and the whole ali- 
mentary canal becomes deranged; the animal not 
only vomits, but frequently diarrhea sets in, and the 
poor animal is so disgusted and diseased that her 
appetite fails, and for weeks she is weak, debilitated, 
gives but Httle milk, and the pigs dwindle, become 
sickly, some of them die, and the rest worthless. 
The poor sow is pronounced worthless as a breeder. 
With the above treatment the finest breeders could 
do no better; the fault lies at the door of the owner. 
Let the sows be cared for properly before they far- 
row, and but little trouble of the kind alluded to 
will be experienced. They should not be disturbed 
or driven out of their beds till they leave it of their 
own accord; their food should be of the kind least 
liable to produce fever, such as slops, bran-mash, 
milk, etc., gradually increasing the quantity and 
quality from day to day, till finally, when the pigs 
are ten to fifteen days old, the sow may be given as 
much as she will eat, as one of the objects is to pro- 
duce milk so that the pigs may have plenty; those 
articles of food calculated to make milk ought to be 
given. Care should be taken to keep the beds dry 
and at the same time clear of dust. If the weather 
be cold, their sties or sheds, or wherever the beds 
have been made, should be so situated as to protect 
them from the cold winds and snow or rain, and 



3 

I 



BREEDING. §9 

there should be no want of pure water and salt. All 
these little matters are important. 

TREATMENT OF PIGS WHILE SUCKLING. 

All that is necessary to be done for the first ten 
or twelve days is to see that the sow cares for them, 
and that their beds are kept clean and dry, though, 
as before said, not dusty. If through neglect the 
sow was lousy before her confinement, the pigs will 
also become lousy in a very short time. At this age 
the pigs are very tender, and these vermin not only 
become very annoying, but actually impede their 
growth and impair their health, and even occasionally 
produce the death of the little ones. Strict attention 
should be given to this matter; the lice should be 
destroyed by as mild means as will accomphsh this 
object. If the sow should be unable to support the 
pigs for the first week or two, which sometimes is the 
case, they should be taught to drink warm milk, and 
this will not be a very difficult matter if tenderness 
and care be observed. 

In ten to fifteen days the pigs begin to learn how 
to eat, and should have a separate department, con- 
venient for them to pass in and out at pleasure, and 
troughs should be provided to suit them. Milk is cer- 
tainly best for them at this tender age, but where 
there are very many pigs it may not ]}e possible to 



U TEEATISE ON THE HOG. 

supply them with this article. When this can not be 
done, cracked corn is a very good substitute; this 
should be boiled and made into a slop, or even 
thrown into the trough dry. They will soon learn to 
eat it, and this should be kept constantly- on hand for 
them. The pigs should be prevented from wallowing 
in dusty places; they should be allowed free access 
to water, and have nice clean, dry beds. If these 
directions are carefully complied with, there is but 
little danger of disease of any kind among them. 
Having a good start, they grow up rapidly. 

It has been the writer's practice to so arrange it 
that the first litter shall come early in the spring; 
this litter should be weaned at about eight weeks old. 
A few days after the pigs are weaned the food of the 
sow should be reduced somewhat, so that the flow 
of milk will be decreased. If, as frequently hap- 
pens, that the udder becomes full and feverish, and 
the sow seems to be in pain from it, the pigs may 
be allowed to suck once a day for two or three days. 

In from two to five days the sow usually comes in 
heat. After she has been bred, she may be put with 
the stock hogs, and will require but little if any extra 
attention or care till the time for her to farrow again 
arrives. 

The second litter will come late in the summer or 
early in the fall; this litter may l)e allowed to run 



BREEDING. 61 

with her till she weans them herself, as we do not 
wish to breed her again till the middle or latter 
part of November. The writer thinks it poor econ- 
omy to allow a sow to have more than two litters a 
year; oftener than this well be found to be too great 
a drain upon her powers; besides one litter will come 
in the winter, when it will cost as much to keep them 
as they will be worth. 

For about three weeks after the pigs are weaned 
they should be fed with good nutritious food at least 
three times a day ; at the same time they should have 
a run to grass. After this the time of feeding uifiy 
be reduced to twice a day, morning and evening. 



62 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



CHAPTEE V. 

PROTECTION— PLAN OF HOG-HOUSE. ' 

The importance of proper protection of the hog during the winter and 
early spring — Ground plan of a cheap and convenient house for the 
purpose, with full description — Advantages at the farrowing and 
breeding seasons — Directions in regard to castration and speying. 

So little attention has hitherto been given to proper 
protection to the hog, and the importance of it is so 
apparent, that the author feels that his work would be 
very incomplete without some directions in regard to 
it. Nothing that can be done for the hog is of more 
importance than affording him adequate protection 
and shelter. It is also important that the houses, 
sties, etc., should be so arranged as to give at the 
same time convenience, comfort, and proper ventila- 
tion. The author has given much attention to this 
matter, and the plan he proposes to give has given 
entire satisfaction to himself and to those who have 
adopted it. The accompanying cut will fairly illus- 
trate his idea of a house, suitable in all respects for 
convenience, comfort, and ventilation ; especial atten- 
tion is asked for it. 



PROTECTION PLAN OF HOG-HOUSE. 



63 



The following cut represents the ground plan of a 
hog-house. A house built on this plan and size 




PliAN OF HOG-HOUSE. 



will be large enough to accommodate from thirty to 
eighty hogs, depending of course upon the size of 
the hogs. The sills are twenty-four by thirty-two 
feet; this gives a corn crib eight by twenty-four feet, 
and four sties eight by eight feet, which is large 
enough to accommodate a sow and pigs. The one 
eight by sixteen feet will give sufficient room to bed 
a number of common stock hogs. The feed-room, 
eight by twenty-four feet, is sufficiently large for all 



64 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



3 



practical purposes; and the doors are so arranged 
that the hogs in either department may be let into 
the feed-room, or put outside or let in as may be 
desired, without disturbing those in any other de- 
partment. 

This building is framed, about seven feet high, 
with good eaves — i. e., projecting over well. The 
floors should be composed of good heavy plank; that 
of the feed-room and crib should be level; that of 
the sties somewhat slanting outward. A sufficient 
number of joists should be put overhead to lay 
boards upon for the purpose of putting away straw 
for bedding. The door should be about twenty-four 
inches wide, and should work up and down in grooves 
between the studding ; a board about six inches wide 
should be nailed across the studding about three feet 
above the bottom of the door-way; this cross-piece 
should have holes bored through it to correspond 
to similar holes in the door, so that the door may 
be raised to any height desired, and held in its place 
by wooden pins put through the holes. In this 
way, if it be desired to let the pigs and small hogs 
out and keep the larger ones in, or vice versa^ the 
door may be elevated or let down, and be held in 
place by the pins. A door is to be hung on hinges 
at the end of the feed-room as a passway; this door 
should be large enough to allow the largest sized 



rUOTECTlON PIAN OF HOG-HOUSE. 65 

hog to pass through, and arranged so that it may be 
securely closed when desired. 

The outside of this building should be planked 
up high enough to protect the herd from the winds 
and snow, leaving an open space at the top to insure 
ample ventilation. The inside partitions should be 
just high enough to keep the hogs from chmbing 
over them; in this way it will be found much easier 
to clean the sties, and remove the old beds, and 
supply new material. About three feet six inches 
will be high enough for these partitions. Every part 
of the building should be composed of heavy, strong 
material, and put together so strongly as to resist 
any effort of the hogs to break it down. 

The object of this house is not for constant con- 
finement of the hogs, but for the comfort and accom- 
modation of the common stock hogs. When it is 
the purpose to confine the hogs in pens to fatten 
them, the sties should be somewhat difierently ar- 
ranged, and the sties should in this case be larger. 

The house just described is intended as a place 

of common resort for the herd, and also to confine 

the sows about the time of farrowing, and to protect 

them from the inclemencies of the weather during 

the first week or two after farrowing, and so that 

they may be given proper food. This house also 

furnishes the herd a place to sleep, and thus keeps 

6 



66 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

them from sleeping and wallowing in dusty beds and 
manure heaps, where they contract diseases of the 
skin or of the lungs. Here the animal has a bed of 
clean, dry straw, free from dust, and protected from 
the cold, the wind, and the rain; here he can rest 
and enjoy quiet slumber at night, caring little be- 
cause feeling nothing of the cold without. He rises 
from his bed in the morning refreshed, and in no way 
injured by his companion climbing over him and dis- 
turbing his rest; he eats his simple meal and is satis- 
fied. How can he fail to thrive? Try it and see 
if he does not. 

With a house thus constructed pigs can be saved 
at all seasons of the year, and this is one of the 
objects to be accomplished by this arrangement. If 
the pigs are disposed to wallow in the dust, they 
may be confined in the sty, and the sow allowed to 
run out, and be let in as often as necessary to 
suckle them. We insist upon it, that if they are 
allowed to wallow in dusty beds, they will invariably 
become diseased. Care should be taken when thus 
confined to supply them with abundance of pure 
water. Of course, when the pigs are farrowed at a 
time when grass is abundant, they should be allowed 
to run in the pasture along with the sow. 

Another advantage afforded by this house is that 
during the breeding season the boar may be kept in 



PllOTECTION PLAN OF HOG-HOUSE. 67 

one of these apartments and let to the sows at will. 
With this arrangement the hog is made much more 
gentle and manageable, and unquestionably more 
profitable, and the raiser derives more pleasure in 
the business of hog-culture. 



CASTRATING AND SPAYING. 

At what age of the world the art of castration was 
first practiced upon domesticated animals w^e have no 
means of determining. It was doubtless practiced 
at a very early day. The Spaniards, the Gauls, and 
Italians understood hog-raising, and the probability 
is that they practiced this art. 

The objects to be attained are: 1. To destroy the 
generative powers. 2. To diminish their courage, 
and thus make them docile and easily managed. 
3. To increase the tendency to grow fat, and cause 
them to arrive at early maturity. 

The operation consists in removing the testicles 
of the male and the ovaries of the female. The 
art of performing the operation is so generally 
known and practiced by every hog-raiser, that it 
is not necessary to go into any lengthy description 
of it, or to give any particular mode of performing 
it. Yet a few remarks in regard to the time when 
castration ought to be performed, and the treatment 



68 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

of the animal previous to and after the operation, 
may be found useful. 

This operation should be performed in the spring 
as soon as the weather gets warm enough, and before 
the flies become troublesome, and in the fall before 
cold weather sets in; it may, however, be done in 
the summer if the castrated animals can have a run 
to fresh running water, in which to bathe and protect 
themselves from the flies; but on no account should 
it be performed in the winter or the cold changeable 
weather of early spring. The operation may be per- 
formed on either male or female at any age, though 
of course the risk to life is greater in old than in 
young animals. 

It is best to castrate the male at from two to six 
weeks old, as the wound at this age is smaller, and 
the healing process is more rapid in young than in old 
animals; they are also much more easily handled. 

Spaying the female should be performed at from 
two to four months old, as the ovaries are not devel- 
oped sufficiently previous to this time. They should 
be in good health at the time, and not fat, only in 
fair condition. They should be put in clean, dry 
pens, and kept there for twenty-four hours previous 
to the operation, and should be allowed no food 
whatever, but should have plenty of water. The 
object of this is to secure an empty state of the 



PROTECTION PLAN OF HOG-HOUSE. 69 

bowels, which is important, and to be in condition to 
obviate fever and inflammation. After the operation 
they should be allowed a sufficiency of good, unirri- 
tating food, and be made, if they do not incline, to 
take exercise ; they should not be allowed to lie 
around the sty, except enough simply to give suffi- 
cient rest. The food should not only be unirritating 
but rather scant for the first few days. If they are 
not allowed full feed, they will be apt to take suffi- 
cient exercise in making search for food. When, 
however, as is sometimes the case, they refuse to 
exercise, they should be driven once or twice a day 
a few hundred yards. The author's experience is 
that they do infinitely better when they are made 
to move about than when allowed to lie in their beds 
and wait for their food to be given them. If they 
should get stiff and very sore, take a quill and push 
it through the cut, between the stitches, so as to pro- 
mote the flow of bruised blood and water that some- 
times accumulates. This wiU give much relief. 
This operation may be repeated if found necessary. 



To TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



n 



CHAPTER VI. 

ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND DISEASES OF THE HOG. 

The head— The nose— Nerves of the special senses— The teeth; their 
names and number; their importance and function — Lining of the 
mouth — The brain, larger in proportion to the size of the animal 
than that of the ox or sheep — Apoplexy, its cause; its treatment — 
Inflammation of the brain — Epilepsy — Lockjaw, causes of — Diseases 
of the nose; how produced — The larynx, diseases of— The pharynx- 
Strangles and quinsy, treatment of — The chest — The lungs, diseases 
of — Bronchial tubes; their diseases. 

It is important, before treating of the diseases of 
the hog, that the reader should have some knowledge 
of the structure and relations of the most important 
parts and organs of the body. Few persons, even 
those who have given much attention to the rearing 
of swine, have taken the trouble to inform themselves 
in regard to the anatomy and physiology of this ex- 
ceedingly valuable animal. 

It is impossible to treat the diseases of this animal 
intelligently and successfully without a knowledge 
of his anatomy, physiology, and habits. It is not, 
however, the intention of the author to enter into a 
lengthy and minute description of every part of the 
body, but simply those parts most liable to disease. 



ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND DISEASES. 



71 



For a thorough, scientific description, the author re- 
fers to the systematic treatises of Youatt, Martin, and 
others, on the hog, and from whom, indeed, he has 
not hesitated to quote, and particularly from Youatt, 
to whose patient research the world is indebted for 
the best systematic treatise on the hog in the English 
language. The following cut is copied from the excel- 
lent book of Youatt, and gives a very accurate idea 
of the skeleton of the hog. It is hoped that this cut 
will prove profitable and interesting to the reader. 




1, the lower jaw; 2, the teeth; 3, the nasal bones, oi' bones of the 
nose; 4, the npper jaw; 5, the frontal bone; 6, the orbit, or socket of 
the eye; 7, the occipital bone, or bone at the top and back of the head; 
8, the first bones of the spine; 9, the spinal bones of the neck; 10, the 
spinal bones of the back; 11, the spinal bones of the loins; 12, the 
bones of the tail; 13, 14, the true and false ribs; 15, the shoulder-blade; 
16, the round shoulder bone; 17, the breast bone; 18, the elbow; 19, the 
bone of the fore-arm; 20, the navicular bone; 21, the first and second 
bones of the foot; 22, the bones of the hoof; 23, the haunch bones; 24, 
the thigh bone; 25, the stifle bone; 26, the upper bone of the leg; 27, 
the hock bones; 28, the navicular bone; 29, the first bones of the foot; 
30, the second bones of the foot. 



72 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

THE HEAD. 

The head presents several points of mterest: 
Fu'st, it contains the brain, from which proceed the 
nerves which supply the organs of special sense, viz., 
seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, etc.; second, the 
cavity of the nose, or 7iasal cavity ; third, the teeth, 
and the spade-bone or snout-bone. The general con- 
tour of the head is that of an irregular, flattened 
cone, terminated below by the snout, which, as we 

« 

shall see, serves an important purpose. 

The hog differs from other animals in the structure 
of the nose in that he has an extra bone, the vomer. 
It is short, trifical, and placed directly before the 
nasal-hone, with which and the edges of the anterior 
maxillary it is connected by strong ligaments, carti- 
lages, and muscles. This bone has been termed the 
spade-bone, the snout-bone, and by some writers the 
vomer, from its resemblance to a plowshare. By it 
and its cartilaginous attachments is the snout ren- 
dered strong, as well as flexible, and far more effi- 
cient than it could otherwise be; and the hog often 
contrives to give both farmers and gardeners very 
unpleasant proofs of its efficiency by plowing up 
deep furrows in newly-sown fields, and grubbing up 
the soil in all directions, in search of his living and 
dead food. As rpots and fruits buried in the 



ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOG^Y, AND DISEASES. 73 

earth form the natural food of the hog, the parts 
above described serve him a very useful purpose, as 
it is perfectly adapted for turning up the soil. There 
is a large plexus of nerves proceeding down each side 
of the nose, and ramifying over the nostril, and in 
these doubtless reside that peculiar power which en- 
ables the hog to detect his food, though buried some 
inches below the surface of the ground. The olfac- 
tory nerve too is large, and occupies a middle rank 
between that of the herhivorous and carnivorous ani- 
mals. It is comparatively larger than that of the 
ox; indeed, few animals, with the exception of the 
dog, are gifted with a more acute sense of smell than 
the hog. To the acute sense of smell of the hog are 
epicures indebted for the truffles which form such a 
delicious sauce, for they are the actual finders. A 
pig is turned into a field, and suffered to pursue his 
own course, and watched. He stops, and begins to 
grub up the earth ; the man hurries up, drives him 
away, and secures the truffle, which is invariably 
growing under that spot, and the poor pig goes off to 
sniff out another and another, only now and then 
being allowed, by way of encouragement, to reap the 
fruit of his research.* 

The cavities of the nose are separated by a parti- 
tion, and lined by a mucous membrane. This mem- 

* Youatt. 
7 



74 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

brane frequently becomes diseased — usually inflam- 
mation. This may be known by being changed from 
its natural healthy color, a delicate pink, to intense 
redness. There is generally an abundant secretion 
of mucus, usually a white, glairy, tough kind, or 
else the membrane, instead of secreting its normal 
quantity of mucus, becomes dry and cracked or fis- 
sured, and bleeds at the slightest provocation. Now 
the function of this membrane is to secrete mucus, 
which keeps the parts moist, and serves to protect 
the deep-seated parts from any irritating matter that 
may be lodged upon it. 

The Teeth. — " The hog has fourteen molar teeth 
(grinders) in each jaw, six incisors (cutters), and two 
canines (tearers). These latter are curved upward, 
and commonly denominated tushes." (Youatt.) Thus 
it will be seen that the hog, from the character of 
his teeth, is enabled to eat a great variety of food. 
He has cutters, tearers, and grinders. Thus he eats 
grass, grain, roots, fruits, and flesh. He is therefore 
what is called an omnivorous (all-eating) animal, and 
in this respect, as in some others, resembles man 
more than any other animal. The teeth are intended 
to crush the food, and thus prepare it to be mixed 
with the saliva of the mouth, to form it into a pulpy 
mass preparatory to its passage into the stomach, 
where it is digested, and passes on through the intes- 



ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND DISEASES. 75 



J XliX^iWAJV^V^i, 



tinal canal, to be absorbed and converted into blood. 
But more of this anon. 

THE BRAIN. 

" This important organ is not so large as from an 
external view of the cranium (skull) Ave should be 
led to suppose. It is, however, considerably larger 
in proportion to the size of the animal than that of 
the ox or sheep; being about one five-hundredth 
part of the weight of the animal, while that of the 
ox is only one eight-hundredth part, and that of the 
sheep one seven-hundred-and-fiftieth part." (Youatt) 

The hog is subject to apoplexy, and this is not to 
be wondered at, "as this is a disease," says Youatt, 
"which is chiefly induced hy pletJiora, laziness, want 
of exercise, high feeding, and such like causes." It 
is a common habit to feed fatting hogs all they will 
eat when first put in inclosures, and thus too rapid 
production of blood and fat is the result, and the 
animal drops down from apoplexy and dies. 

Inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, epilepsi/, 
and various affections of the nervous system, such 
as lockjaw, rabies, etc., are not uncommon. Since 
the hog is so frequently exposed to the inclemencies 
of the weather in winter, and often illy provided 
with pure water in the heat of summer, it is not to 
be wondered at that he should be afflicted with these 



76 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

terrible forms of disease ; and it is not at all won- 
derful that so few should recover, when it is re- 
membered that so little is actually known by the 
multitude of those who raise them of the nature 
and habits of this truly valuable animal. 

While upon the anatomy and physiologi/ of the 
head, it would be as well to consider some of the 
most important affections of the mucous membrane 
of the nose and throat. When it is remembered 
that the head of the hog is so arranged that the 
nose is always pendant, and that the animal is con- 
stantly snuffing and turning up the ground, and 
poking his nose into everything that comes in his 
way, and thus brought in contact with all sorts 
of irritating matter that it may chance to meet with, 
it can be readily understood how dust, sand, and 
other matters, lodging upon the delicate membrane 
of the nose and throat, may cause disease, such as 
inflammation, either from simple irritation or from 
poisonous matters. This inflammation sometimes 
results in ulceration, or becoming extended may 
reach even into the throat. 

NASAL CATARRH. 

The attention of the reader is next called to 
nasal catarrh, or snuffles as it is commonly called. 
The author already many times referred to (Youatt) 



ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND DISEASES. 77 

has given such an accurate description of the dis- 
ease in question, that the author begs again to quote 
his words. 

Youatt says : " The disease is characterized by 
defliixions (discharges) from the nose in the first 
place, and its advance is so gradual as to be almost 
imperceptible. But it gains ground daily, attacks 
the respiratory passages, cough and sneezing come 
on, there is evident difficulty of swallowing, and the 
respiration is impeded by the mucus formed. After 
some time the membrane of the nose becomes thick- 
ened, the nostril swells and becomes deformed, and 
the snout drawn on one side. Blood is often dis- 
charged from the nostril, and when this has been the 
case all the symptoms are abated and the animal 
seems relieved for awhile. But it too frequently 
happens that this discharge or- hemorrhage returns 
again and again, each time in increasing quantities, 
until the strength of the animal becomes so under- 
mined that, notwithstanding the utmost care and the 
most nourishing diet, he dies of exhaustion, or per- 
haps, as it may be more properly termed, consump- 
tion. This disease, which so strongly resembles 
glanders and distemper, is, like them, hereditary, and 
may be communicated from either the male or female 
parent. It also results from exposure to damp or 
cold." 



78 , TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

The attention of the reader is earnestly called to 
the last observation of Youatt — viz., that the disease 
in question may be communicated either from the 
male or female parent; hence it follows that much 
care should be taken in the selection of breeders. As 
it is a law of the Creator that "like shall beget like/' 
so it must be in regard to this matter. Pigs born of 
a diseased parent can rarely ever be perfectly sound ; 
hence it becomes exceedingly important that in order 
to have sound, healthy, thrifty hogs, the utmost care 
should he observed in selecting from the herd only 
those ^ both male and female, that are known to be per- 
fectly/ sound as breeders. 

Few persons are perhaps prepared for the above 
statement. The author has for a long time been con- 
vinced of its truth, and he has frequently urged upon 
his neighbors the importance of selecting from their 
herds the healthiest and best for breeders, and in 
this way secure healthy, robust pigs. In another 
place he proposes to urge this matter as one of vital 
importance. 

THE LARYNX. 

The larynx is the instrument of voice. "It con- 
sists of cartilages united to one another by ligamen- 
tous substances, by distinct articulations, and by a 
seemingly complicated but really simple muscular 



ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND DISEASES. 79 

apparatus. In form it is an irregular oblong tube, 
exceedingly flexible, and capable of adapting itself 
to all the natural or morbid changes of the respiratory 
process, and to the production of all the various in- 
tonations of sound or voice by which the animal 
expresses his emotions. It is placed at the top of the 
windpipe, guards the exit from the lungs, and pre- 
vents the passage of food into the respiratory canal." 
The author does not believe it to be necessary to go 
into a very minute description of this organ. Suffice 
it to say, further, that this tube, like the nose, is 
lined by a mucous membrane, and is liable to become 
diseased. It is the seat of serious inflammation, 
and, as in the human being, very difficult to cure. 
Inflammation here is known by a peculiar change 
of the voice, resembling croup, and by difficulty in 
swallowing, and this is more particularly noticed 
when the animal attempts to swallow fluids ; he 
will swallow solids with apparent ease, but he 
strangles and gives signs of suffering when he at- 
tempts to take fluids of any kind. The cough is 
spasmodic, and his voice is hoarse, and, as before 
stated, resembles croup in the human subject. Unless 
speedily relieved, the animal dies in from five to ten 
days, or else it runs into the chronic stage, and the 
animal becomes poor, has a distressing cough, and 
finally dies from exhaustion. Under very favorable 



80 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

circumstances a cure may be effected, but it is the 
exception, not the rule. The means best adapted to 
reheve the disease is careful nursing, protection from 
cold and dampness, a purgative of Epsom salts and 
an ounce of saltpeter, dissolved in a gallon of flax- 
seed-tea, to be taken as freely as the animal can be 
induced to drink it; and he should be allowed no 
other drink until he does drink of this freely. If the 
animal is fat, the loss of blood might do good. The 
diet should consist of hot milk, bran-mash, etc. 
Few farmers, however, will be careful enough to 
detect the presence of the disease in time to accom- 
plish much good by any plan of treatment. 

THE PHARYNX. 

While the organs of the throat are under consid- 
eration, it might be as well to consider the 'pharynx^ 
as it is situated in such close proximity to the other 
structures of which we have been speaking. The 
'pharynx is a membranous^ muscular^ funnel-shaped 
bag, extending from the root of the tongue to the 
larynx and oesophagus^ wide in front, and becoming 
gradually narrower until it terminates in the oesoph- 
agus. Its office is to convey the food from the mouth 
to the upper part of the gullet, and this it performs 
by means of its lining muscles. The oesophagus is 
the long tube continued from the pharynx to the 



ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND DISEASES. 81 

stomach, and is the canal through which the food 
passes, after leaving the mouth and phar?/nx, into the 
stomach. A more complete description of this tube 
and its functions will be given when we come to 
speak of the organs of digestion. 

STRANGLES OR QUINSY. 

We now come to consider a disease of frequent 
occmTence, rapid in its progress, and very fatal in 
its termination — viz., strangles or quinsy. These 
diseases (of the throat) are of very frequent occur- 
rence, and as they are rapid in their progress gen- 
erally exceedingly fatal. They chiefly attack fatten- 
ing hogs. The glands under the throat begin to 
swell, and thus affect not only the respiratory organs, 
but the act of swallowing; impeded respiration, 
hoarseness, and debility then supervene; the pulse 
becomes quick and unequal; the head to a certain 
extent palsied ; the neck tumefies and rapidly goes on 
to gangrene; the tongue hangs from the mouth and 
is covered with slaver; and the animal gradually 
sinks. The glands sometimes ulcerate, and occa- 
sionally abscesses are formed, and these bursting 
give relief. 

In the commencement of the disease very simple 
treatment is required, such as cooling medicines, 
attention to diet, and proper care and protection. 



82 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

But when the swelling, impeded respiration, and dif- 
ficult swallowing has come on, recourse must be had 
to more energetic treatment. " Bleeding and purga- 
tives are first indicated. Setons and punctures of 
the swelled glands have also been recommended, 
and in extreme cases there is no reason why we 
should not have recourse to blisters and external 
stimulants as counter-irritants. A diseased animal 
should never be allowed to remain among healthy 
ones, as the malady is so infectious that it may 
almost be regarded as an epizootic^ In addition to 
the above, the author would strongly urge the free 
use of the nitrate of potash (saltpeter). The dose 
should be large; say a table-spoonful to full-grown 
hogs is an excellent means; its action is upon the 
kidneys and skin, and in this way serves to carry 
off much of the unhealthy material which would 
otherwise be retained in the blood. It also acts 
upon the inflamed surface, and fliddizes as it were the 
tough mucus secreted by the inflamed membrane, 
and actually depletes and relieves congestion. Prob- 
ably the best way to give it is by dissolving it in 
flaxseed-tea or water. Too much attention can not 
be given to warmth and protection from a cold, damp 
atmosphere. If the affected hogs have not been 
accustomed to bedding in a house or shelter, which 
is frequently the case, they ought at once to be pro- 



ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND DISEASES. 83 

vided with comfortable quarters. This is especially 
important for the reason that the disease is one of 
winter and spring almost exclusively. If these 
means be neglected, all medical treatment will be 
wholly in vain, and even with the best surroundings 
treatment is too often inefficacious. 

The symptoms and treatment are thus described 
by Cartwright : He had six pigs attacked at nearly 
the same period. Their respiration was very quick ; 
they husked and foamed at the mouth; they could 
not bear to be pressed on the throat, and swallowed 
liquids with difficulty. To some of them jalap was 
given, and to others castor-oil and goose-oil. One 
was blistered under the throat, and all bled by cut- 
ting off their tails. They died in the course of eight 
and forty hours from the commencement of the dis- 
ease. On examination he found much inflammation 
under the jaws and throat, and also much swelling, 
with affused serum. In some of their windpipes 
and the bronchia there was a great quantity of 
mucus, but apparently no inflammation. 

THE CHEST. 

In the human being this constitutes the superior 
and in quadrupeds the anterior portion of the body. 
It is separated from the abdomen by the diaphragm. 
The latter is of a musculo-memhranous nature, and is 



84 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

the main agent in respiration. In its quiescent state 
it presents its convex surface toward the abdomen. 
The anterior convexity abuts upon the lungs ; the pos- 
terior concavity is occupied by a portion of the ahdom- 
inal viscera (or organs). The diaphragm of the pig 
resembles that of the ox and sheep. 

The chest is divided into two cavities by a mem- 
brane termed the mediastinum (or partition), which 
evidently consists of a duplicate of the pleura or 
lining membrane of the thorax (chest). ThQ pleura 
is a serus membrane, possessed of little or no sensi- 
bility, and acted upon by but few nerves. It is 
smooth and polished, covers the bony wall of the 
thorax from the spine to the sternum (breast-bone), 
and from the first rib to the diaphragm, and dilating 
and forming a kind of bag, which spreads over and 
contains the whole of the lung. The lungs form two 
distinct organs, the right being somewhat larger than 
the left one. They are separated from each other by 
that folding over of the pleura termed the mediasti- 
num (partition), and hence may be said to be inclosed 
in separate bags, or to have dihimGt pleuras. 

Each lung is subdivided. The right one consists 
of three unequal lobes, the smallest of which is again 
subdivided into numerous lobules, differing in number 
in different swine. The left lung consists of two lobes, 
and the fissure between these is not very deep. 



ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND DISEASES. 85 

Beneath the left lung the heart is situated, and 
partially inclosed in another membranous bag, termed 
the pericardium, which closely supports and protects 
it. The heart has two sides, the one devoted to the 
circulation of the blood through the lungs, and the 
other to its circulation through the frame generally. 
Each side is divided into two compartments — the one 
above, the other below — which are termed the auricles 
and ventricles. The right auricle, as well as the ven- 
tricle, is larger than the left, and its parietes (walls) 
are thinner. Much more might be said about the 
anatomy of the heart, but this is deemed sufacient 
for all practical purposes. 

The organs should be studied and examined by 
every one interested in hog raising. This will 
require some care and patience, but will reward the 
laborer, as it will give him the best idea he can have 
of the situation and play of the organs. 

In addition to the excellent description of Youatt, 
the author desires to give as correct an idea of the 
lungs as possible, inasmuch as he will have use for 
it in giving his views of an exceedingly important 
and terrible disease, and upon which he has given 
much time, labor, and expense. 

Let the reader peruse again the description of the 
chest, its divisions, and the situation of the lungs, so 
as to have the whole mapped out in his mind. 



86 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

It will be remembered that the windpipe leads from 
the larynx to the lungs, but that at the beginning of 
the chest it is divided into two branches — one branch 
going to the right and the other to the left lung. 
Immediately after they divide, these two branches 
enter the apex of the lung (for the lung is cone- 
shaped) ; the apex of the cone looking forward and 
the base looking backward toward the belly. Now, 
immediately upon entering the lung, these tubes again 
divide and subdivide, like the branching of a tree, 
throughout the whole lung from apex to lase^ and 
until they (the tubes) become so small as to be 
scarcely, if at all, visible to the naked eye. The 
function of these tubes is to convey to the lungs the 
oxygen of the atmosphere, and to throw off the poison- 
ous carbonic acid gas, which, if not thus gotten rid of, 
poisons the animal. Thus what is called respiration 
or breathing is carried on. 

The act of breathing is carried on by the involuntary 
action of certain muscles called respiratory muscles. 
These are the muscles of the chest, the diaphragm, 
and the muscles of the ahdomen or belly. The anatomy 
of the heart has already been given. It now remains 
to describe its action, and the great blood-vessels 
which go to and from that organ; and, as before, the 
author avails himself of the description given by 
Youatt. 



ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND DISEASES. 87 

As before stated, ^' the heart has two sides — the one 
devoted to the ch'culation of the blood through the 
lungs, and the other to its circulation through the 
frame generally." 

The great artery or aorta comes off from the left 
side of the heart, and it is through this that the blood 
is sent out through the system. 

" The aorta of the pig separates almost immediately 
after its commencement into two trunks, the smaller 
of which leads forward, and gives forth those arteries 
which in other anim_als arise from the cross of this 
artery^ and the other, which is larger in diameter, 
inclines backward. These are usually termed the 
anterior and ^posterior aorta. The beating of the heart 
may be felt on the left side, whence also the pulse 
may be taken, or from the femoral artery^ which 
crosses the inside of the thigh in an oblique direction. 
In swine, in a state of health, the pulsations are 
from seventy to eighty in a minute." 

Perhaps it might be useful to some readers who 
have given these matters but little attention to 
say that there are three kinds of blood-vessels; viz., 
arteries^ which carry the blood out from the left side 
of the heart throughout the whole system; the veins ^ 
which serve to carry the blood back to the right side 
of the heart and to the lungs ; and the capillaries (hair- 
like vessels,) that carry the blood through the minute 



88 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

parts, and indeed every part of the body, and are 
situated intermediately between tbe ends of the 
arteries and veins. 

Thus the round of the circulation is made : first, 
from the heart through the arteries; second, through 
the capillaries to the veins ; third, the blood returning 
from the extremities of the body passes through the 
veifis back to the heart from whence it started, thence 
to the lungs, where it is made fit to return to the left 
side of the heart, to go the same round again through 
the system. 

Of course the heart, like all the other organs of the 
body, may become diseased, but its affections are so 
difficult of detection, and so little amenable to treat- 
ment, that it is not believed to be profitable to devote 
space to a consideration of them. 

The anatomy and physiology of the heart is given 
more for the purpose of understanding other diseased 
processes, and for the benefit of those who have not 
had the opportunity of studying these very interesting 
matters, and of which every man should have some 
knowledge. 

THE BRONCHIAL TUBES AND THEIR DISEASES. 

Swine are very liable to attacks of bronchitis (in- 
flammation of the tubes), and also liable to worms in 
the bronchia, both of which affections manifest them- 



ANATOMY^ PHYSIOLOGY, AND DISEASES. 89 

selves under the form of cough, inappetenc2/, and loss of 
flesh. The former may be subdued by bleeding and 
cooling medicines, as sulphur, cream tartar, or pulv. 
antimoniaU. 

The latter (worms) almost invariably cause the 
death of the animal from the irritation they create, 
and the inflammation which is thus set up. The 
author is disposed to differ from Youatt in regard to 
the last observation, and does so with much diffidence. 
The author has repeatedly seen small thread-like 
worms in the windpipe and bronchial tubes after the 
animal had become fat, and he further states, what he 
is aware has been disputed, that he has seen repeat- 
edly the trichince in the same locality, so pronounced 
by good microscopists. 

Now, if the hog grows fat while these parasites 
exist in the tubes, certainly they are not so fatal as 
Youatt has been led to believe. That death is the 
inevitable result of their pre"sence in the windpipe and 
tubes the experience of the author does not permit 
him to believe. Youatt does not inform us as to the 
kind of worm to which he alludes; but it is certain, 
though mentioned by no other writer than the one 
referred to known to the author, that worms do inhabit 
the air passages and get into the ultimate tubes and 
air cells of the lung of the hog. The author's obser- 
vation teaches him that these worms are almost 

8 



90 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



1 



exclusively confined to pigs from three to fifteen 
months old. But let this sufl&ce for the present on 
this subject. 

The writer wishes now to call attention to the 
efficacy of muriate of ammonia in large doses in the 
treatment of bronchitis. Half a table-spoonful of the 
medicine, finely powdered and dissolved in flaxseed- 
tea, or indeed as much as the animal can be induced 
to take, will be found one of the most valuable of all 
the remedies in use. In addition to this, it is very 
cheap. It may be given either in solution or mixed 
with bran or meal. As its taste is very like common 
salt, it will not be difficult to get the animal to take 
it. Moreover, it is perfectly innocent. Saltpeter 
(nitrate of potash), used in the same way, will also 
give good results. These, with soups, bran-mash, 
and proper protection, will cure most of the cases of 
bronchitis. 

INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS. 

Simple, uncomplicated inflammation of the lungs 
is rather a common affection in swine. This disease 
is more generally known under the term of rising of 
the lights. It is one of the most fatal of all the dis- 
eases of the hog. It has been thought by some to 
be contagious and by others hereditary. There is 
no good foundation for either notion. The same 



ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND DISEASES. 91 

laws that govern the production of the disease in 
the horse and in the human being produce it also in 
the hog. 

There can be but little doubt that the disease in 
question is produced by atmospherical changes, or 
influences which create a tendency, as Youatt says, 
^^to indmonary affections; and these, acting upon a 
system heated and predisposed to disease by the 
mode of feeding adopted in most piggeries, give a 
serious and inflammatory character to that which 
would otherwise merely be a simple attack of ca- 
tarrh; or it may arise from irritating influences in 
the food itself, or from damp, ill-ventilated sties. 
Whatever be its cause, it generally runs through the 
whole piggery when it does make its appearance." 
This is perhaps true, for the same cause that has 
produced it in one case would be very likely to pro- 
duce it in any number similarly situated. There can 
be but little doubt that in our western country it is 
caused by exposure, inattention to proper protection, 
and insuflicient food, both in quahty and quantity. 

The prominent indications of the disease are loss 
of appetite, incessant and distressing cough, and 
heaving of the flanks. The animal can not lie down, 
or if he does he rises immediately. He seems in 
great pain, and is restless and thirsty. 

"As soon as the first symptoms are perceived the 



92 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

animal should be bled. The palate perhaps will be 
the best place in this case to take blood from. Pm- 
gatives must be given, but cautiously. Epsom salts 
and sulphur will be best administered in a dose of 
from two to four drachms of each, according to the 
size of the animal." To these means calomel and 
nitrate of potash in alterative doses — e. g.^ ten grains 
of calomel and one drachm of nitrate of potash at a 
dose, three or four times a day. Attention should 
be given to keeping the animal warm, and he should 
have warm slops or bran-mash, or any unirritating 
food. This will perhaps be the best that can be done. 

The free use of the nitrate of potash is particu- 
larly urged. It can be easily given, dissolved in 
flaxseed-tea, particularly if the animal is not allowed 
water to drink. The hlacJc sulphiiret of antimony in 
tea-spoonful doses, mixed with the food, given several 
times a day, will be found very serviceable. These 
remedies act in a two-fold way, as expectorants and 
on the skin and kidneys, and in this way allay fever, 
and carry off by the skin and kidneys much morbid 
material. Attention should in all cases be given to 
these important organs. 

The author proposes to give special attention to A 
pleuro-pneumonia in its epidemic form in another con- 
nection. 



THE ALIMENTARY CANAL. 93 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE ALIMENTARY CANAL. 

The gullet or oesophagus — The stomach — The intestines, large and 
small — Inflammation of the bowels ; treatment — Colic ; treatment — 
Diarrhea; treatment — Gorget of the maw; cause; treatment — The 
liver — The spleen — Peritoneum, inflammation of; treatment — Worms 
in the intestines; varieties; treatment — Kidneys and bladder, dis- 
eases of; treatment of. 

" The gullet or oesophagus is a musculo-memhranous 
tube, commencing at the 'pharynx^ passing down the 
throat on the left side of the windpipe, entering the 
chest in company with that tube, penetrating through 
the folds of the diaiohragm^ and terminating in the 
stomach through an orifice termed the cardial 
(Youatt.) 

THE STOMACH. 

The stomach of the hog is a much more simple 
apparatus than that of the ox and the sheep ; it is a 
truly omnivorous one, and beautifully adapted by its 
pyramidal appendage and glandular structure, as well 
as by the villous, mucous membrane with which it is 



94 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

lined, for the digestion of the heterogeneous (mixed) 
food which it is destined to receive, being perhaps 
more analogous to that of the horse than to any 
other animal. In form it is glohulous. Its large 
blind cavity is very voluminous, and is surmounted 
in front by a horn-like appendage. The narrow, 
large portion which shuts on the pylorus greatly 
resembles this hood-shaped appendage. On each 
side of the cardia are two transversal folds, and the 
cardia itself is half way between the pylorus and the 
large cavity. 

The stomach has three coats — the outermost or 
peritoneum^ which constitutes the common covering of 
all the intestines (bowels); the muscular or fibrous 
coat, which acts upon and mingles the food, and pre- 
pares it for digestion; and the mucous or villous coat, 
which is pecuharly developed in the pig, and into 
which opens the mouths of numerous little vessels | 
conveying the gastric juice to the semi-digested food, 
and by its action converting it into a pultaceous fluid, 
commonly called chyme. 

It will be seen by this very short but clear de- 
scription of the stomach that the middle coat or f| 
layer is a muscular or musculo-fihrous layer, and it is 
by its action that the food, after reaching the stom- 
ach, is mixed with the gastric juice by the contrac- 
tion of its fibers, and thus the pulpy mass is dissolved 



THE ALIMENTARY CANAL. 95 

by the gastric juice, and passed into the bowels to 
undergo a further process by being mixed with the 
intestinal juices, such as the bile and the pancreatic 
juice; and thus, as it passes along the canal, the nu- 
trient parts, or such as are fit to make blood, are ab- 
sorbed and converted into a fluid fit to be circulated 
through the system for its nourishment. And this 
brings us to the next section of this great canal. 

THE INTESTINES (bOWELS). 

The intestines of the hog bear a stronger resem- 
blance to those of the human being than we find in 
any other animal. They are sixteen times the 
length of the body of the animal, and the propor- 
tions of the small intestines to the large are as three 
to one. They are composed of four coats or layers. 
The outer or peritoneal one is formed of that mem- 
brane which invests and retains in its proper position 
every portion of the contents of the belly. The 
second layer is muscular, and by its action propels 
the contents of the stomach gradually onward. The 
office of the third is to luhrieate the innermost coat, 
and for this purpose it is supplied with numerous 
glands, surrounded by cellular tissue. The fourth or 
lining coat is soft, villous, and in a healthy state 
always covered with mucus. The food, having been 
^.ufficiently converted into chyme by the action of 



96 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



a 



the stomach, is gradually propelled through the py- 
loric orifice by 

THE DUODENUM, 

Or first intestine^ where it is submitted to the influ- 
ence of two fluids — that secreted by the 'pancreas 
and by the liver — and the combined action of which 
separates the nutritious from the worthless portion, 
causing the former to assume the appearance of a 
thick whitish fluid, and the latter that of a yellow 
pulpy substance. It next passes into 

THE JEJUNUM AND ILEUM, 

Where it undergoes still further alteration, and w^here 
a considerable portion of it is taken up by the lacteal 
vessels, which open into these two small intestines^ 
and is conveyed away to nourish the frame, and be- 
come mingled with the blood and supply the waste 
in it. These intestines are of equal diameter in the 
pig throughout their whole extent, and the termina- 
tion of the jejunum and the commencement of the 
ileum is by no means distinctly defined ; the latter is, 
however, longer than the former, and opens into 

THE CGECUM, 

With a valvular opening close to the aperture into the 
colon. The coecmn is a kind of bag, supplied with 



THE ALIMENTARY CANAL. 97 

numerous secretory glands^ which furnish it with a 
fluid which onoe more acts upon those portions of the 
digested food which reaches it, extracting from them 
any nutritious portions which may chance still to 
remain. 

The matter, having reached the base of this intedine^ 
is returned by the muscular action of its inner coat, 
and being prevented by the valve from re-entering 
the ileum, passes into the 

COLON (or large GUt), 

The largest of the large intestines, some of the con- 
volutions of which equal the stomach in size, while 
others are as small as the small intestines. Here the 
watery parts of the mass are extracted, and the resi- 
duum or harder f cecal portion is retained for a while, 
and finally expelled through the rectum. 

It will be readily imagined that this complicated 
process must occasionally become deranged by various 
causes, and that hence will arise different diseases of 
a more or less serious nature. This is, however, less 
the case in swine than most of our other domesticated 
animals, from the circumstance of their stomach and 
intestines being prepared by the softening power of 
their highly mucous, villous lining for the reception and 
digestion of a hetorogeneous mass of food which to 

other animals would be actually poisonous, rendering 

9 



98 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

it evident that, although the hog in a state of nature 
is an herhivoroiis animal, he was ako destined to 
become omnivorous for the service of man. 

Having now considered this great canal into which 
the food of whatever kind must pass, and having 
gotten some knowledge of its anatomy and functions, 
we come to consider the diseases to which it is liable. 
These are few in number, but some of them very- 
grave in character and results. From the great 
variety of material which the hog is known to take 
into his stomach, and the bad and even disgusting 
quality of some of it, it is not wonderful that his 
stomach and bowels should sometimes become dis- 
eased. The first of these diseases to which we wish 
to call attention is 

ENTERITIS OR INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS. 

This disease consists in inflammation of one or 
more of the coats (or layers) of the intestines, and is 
capable of being produced by various irritating causes, 
as the foul air of badly ventilated sties, unwhole- 
some food, etc. 

The symptoms are dullness, loss of appetite, con- 
stipation, spasms or convulsions, continued restless 
motion — either to and fro or round and round — 
staggering gait, and evident symptoms of suffering. 
The most successful treatment is warm baths, dry 



I 



THE ALIMENTARY CANAL. 9^ 

litter, and general warmth and comfort, and internall^^ 
purgatives and enemas (injections). Castor-oil, calomel, 
or rhubarb are the best purgatives for cases of this 
nature, and the enemas (injections) should be of 
an oleaginous emolient nature; the diet should be 
restricted to the simplest and lightest food. Oat-meal, 
skim-milk, or whey are the best things. 

COLIC. 

"The hog is frequently attacked by this malady, 
which generally arises from unwholesome food, cold, 
or wet, filthy sties." Or, to be more specific, it is 
sometimes produced by allowing the animals to eat 
too heartily of immature fruits and vegetables, and 
rotten corn, which it is common for our western 
farmers to give their hogs. A fermentative process 
is set up by which gas is set free, and in this way the 
disease is brought about. The disease is recognized by 
restlessness, cries of pain, rolling on the ground, etc. 

The treatment consists in emptying the bowels by 
a brisk purgative of castor-oil and turpentine, propor- 
tionate to the size of the animal. To a full-grown 
hog two ounces of oil and half a table-spoonful of the 
turpentine ; in addition, get the hog to drink as freely 
as possible of water in which bicarbonate soda has 
been dissolved, with a little ginger. These remedies 
will generally be very readily taken in some warm 



100 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

milk. These remedies may be repeated occasionally 
till the bowels are freely moved. 

The above remedies Avill generally give speedy 
relief. If, hov^ever, they should fail, ten drops of 
creosote, in milk or some mucilaginous fluid, v^ill be 
found an excellent remedy. ^^j 

DIARRHEA. ■ 

"This is a disease very common among all our 
young domesticated animals, and it is also repeat- 
edly met with in older ones; a scanty allowance or I 
unwholesome food will produce it, as will also over- 
feeding or too nutritious diet." Here also immature 
fruits and garbage from the kitchen and garden, and 
unwholesome slops of any kind, are fruitful sources 
of the disease. 

"The disease consists in a frequent discharge of 
the faecal matters, in a thin or slimy state, but not 
actually altered, and arises from inflammation or con- 
gestion of the mucous lining of the intestines." 

The diarrhea, in most cases perhaps, is rather due 
to a fermentation or acid state of the stomach and 
bowels, and not to inflammation or to simple irritation 
only. Though when the discharges, instead of being 
simply the faecal matter, is mixed with mucus and 
blood, then it is almost certain that inflammation 
exists in some portion of the canal. As already 



THE ALIMENTARY CANAL. 101 

remarked, it may depend upon simple irritation, 
caused by some irritant article of food taken into the 
stomach, some article hard of digestion or wholly 
indigestible. It will generally be found, by careful 
examination, that the discharges are acid; and, as 
Youatt very correctly remarks, "What we conceive 
to be an attack of diarrhea is often only an effort of 
nature to throw off some offensive matter, and will 
cease of itself in the course of twenty-four hours." 
But when it goes on longer than this, or for any con- 
siderable length of time, it must be taken seriously 
in hand, as otherwise it will weaken the animal and 
impair its value. 

"The best remedy for it is the compound com- 
monly called calves' cordial; viz., prepared chalk, 
one ounce; powdered catechu, half an ounce; pow- 
dered ginger, two drachms; powdered opium, half a 
drachm. Mix and dissolve in half a pint of pepper- 
mint water. From half an ounce to an ounce of this 
mixture, according to the size of the animal, should 
be given twice in a day, and strict attention paid to 
the diet, which should consist as much as posible 
of dry, farinaceous food." 

The bicarbonate of soda will, in a majority of 
cases, be sufficient for these cases. It might be com- 
bined with a little calomel; thus, calomel, forty 
grains ; bicarbonate of soda, one ounce ; to be divided 



102 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

into four doses — a dose three or four times a day, in 
bran-mash or corn-meal. 



GORGET OF THE MAW. 



n 



"This disorder arises from repletion, and is found 
alike in old animals and sucking pigs. Its symptoms 
strongly resemble those of colic. The remedies too 
are purgatives. Epsom salts is here perhaps as good 
a thing as can be given, in doses of from a quarter 
of an ounce to an ounce. It might as well be termed 
indigestio7i^ for such it certainly is, the stomach being 
overloaded with "food. In sucking pigs it usually 
arises from the coagulation of milk in the stomach." 

This state of things often happens in our western 
fattening pens from the pernicious habit of over- 
feeding hogs, when first put in pens, on green or 
immature corn, till they are actually stuffed to reple- 
tion. These hogs, taken from the woods poor, half- 
starved, are allowed as much corn as they can eat, 
as the farmers say, "to give them a good start." 
It is quite astonishing that so few of them suffer. 
They become surfeited^ and will sometimes refuse to 
eat for a day or two till the surfeit passes away. 
Youatt is certainly correct in directing in these cases 
the speedy action of a purgative, thus relieving the 
gorged stomach and bowels, and in this way removing 
the cause of the distress. 



THE ALIMENTARY CANAL. 103 

Nature frequently comes to the relief of the dis- 
tressed animal by causing the stomach to throw off 
its contents by vomiting, and this hint given by na- 
ture would seem to indicate an emetic if one could be 
given, and the instinct of the animal will often induce 
him, if put in his way, to take it. For this purpose 
common salt and mustard might be given. 

THE LIVER. 

"This organ," says Youatt, "in swine does not 
appear to be so subject to disease as it is in most of 
our other domesticated animals." This observation 
does not seem to the writer to be correct. He is 
quite satisfied that in America this organ is quite 
frequently the seat of disease, even after the hog 
grows f[it. At slaughtering time he has often seen 
this organ diseased, or evidence of disease having 
existed in it at some time. There are frequently 
abscesses and hard tumors in the organ, and some of 
these tumors actually contain pus (matter) . For the 
present we shall not go any further into this matter; 
but, in connection with another disease, will prove 
from examination made after death that this organ is 
badly diseased. 

This organ is " smaller in swine than in sheep, and 
larger than we find it in the dog, in accordance with 
that anatomical law which seems to be in force in all 



104 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

animals — namely, that the size of the liver shall be 
in inverse proportion to that of the lungs. It is sit- 
uated in the anterior ^'dvt of the abdomen (belly), and 
its upper sm'face rests against the concavity of the 
diaphrafn. Its office is to receive the blood that is 
returned from the intestines, separate from it and 
secrete the fluid termed bile, and then forward the 
residue of the blood onward to the lungs, where it 
undergoes the usual aerating process, and becomes 
transmuted into arterial blood." 

This fluid or bile thus secreted, when in a healthy 
state, and not in undue proportion, stimulates the 
mucous membrane and increases the peristaltic mo- 
tion of the intestines, excites the secretion of the 
mucus requisite to preserve these parts in a healthy 
state, hastens the process of separation of the nutri- 
tious from the innutritions parts of the food, and facil- 
itates the escape of the f cecal matters. It also acts 
chemically upon the various substances which are 
devoured by the animal, and is the chief agent in 
neutralizing the acids which some of these would 
otherwise create. The liver of the pig has four dis- 
tinct lobes. 

THE SPLEEN. 

"In the hog the spleen is very long, and nearly 
of a uniform breadth and thickness throughout its 



THE ALIMENTARY CANAL. 105 

whole extent. It lies on the left side of the abdo- 
men^ and is attached to the stomach by the folds of 
the epiploon. Its texture is almost like that of the 
sponge in appearance, consisting of innumerable cells 
of every size and form ; yet it is firm to the touch. 
In color it is a dark, deep, reddish brown." 

Nothing is positively known as to the exact func- 
tion of the spleen. Some contend that it plays some 
important part in digestion^ but this can not be the 
case, since animals have lost this organ without 
affecting the health of the animal in any material 
sense. The diseases of the spleen are very obscure; 
it frequently becomes enlarged and congested, but 
this might be accounted for by its alleged function of 
diverting from the organs of the abdomen and chest 
the blood which, if no receptacle existed, and it were 
retained by these organs, would result in serious dis- 
ease. When thus enlarged a plentiful supply of 
common salt and the potashes are indicated as means 
of relief. 

PERITONEUM (tHE LINING MEMBRANE OF THE BELLY). 

This portion of the contents of the abdomen 
(belly) is composed of celhdar tissue and amply 
supplied with absorbent vessels ; its office is to sepa- 
rate the different viscera from each other ; to envelop 
them, and attach them to, and support them in, 



106 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

their proper position. It is subject to attacks of 
inflainmationj technically termed 

PERITONITIS. 

This is a very formidable affection, and is much 
more dangerous and fatal than inflammation of the 
mucous membrane. The symptoms are somewhat 
similar to inflammations elsewhere, as that of the 
spleen, liver, etc. There is a peculiar expression of 
pain and anxiety, and great tenderness of the belly ; 
the anmial utters cries indicating great pain, and 
draws himself up in order to relax the muscles and 
to prevent their contractions, for when these are in 
action the suffering is increased. 

At the beginning the bowels are costive, but if the 
disease is not checked the bowels often become 
irritable, and a mucous or bloody diarrhea sets in 
which increases the distress of the animal, and 
serves to still further aggravate the case and exhaust 
the powers of life, and hasten disorganization and 
death. 

The main cause of this terrible disease is unques- 
tionably due to exposure to cold, improper and 
insufficient bedding, and improper food doubtless 
comes in for a share of the mischief. No doubt also 
sp eying and castrating are fruitful somxes of inflam- 
mation of this membrane. 



THE ALIMENTARY CANAL. 107 

In the treatment of this disease care should be 
taken not to give irritating purgatives. Youatt is 
correct when he says, " Oleaginous purgatives are 
here the only ones which are admissibUr Castor-oil 
and spirits of turpentine is by far the best that can 
be given ; the dose of these for a grown hog is, 
castor-oil one ounce, spirits turpentine half a table- 
spoonful, to be repeated if necessary. After the 
bowels have been moved the utmost quietude should 
be enjoined, and in order to secure this a dose of 
opium or laudanum should be given, and repeated 
from time to time till the animal seems easy. The 
dose of the powdered opium is from two to four 
grains, and of the laudanum a tea-spoonful. Salt- 
peter (nitrate of potash) dissolved in flaxseed-tea 
should be the only drink allowed, and the opium or 
laudanum might be suspended in this fluid, and will 
be taken very readily. The food should consist of 
the most bland and unirritating kind, such as milk, 
bran-mash, etc. But, from the fact that the disease 
is not generally recognized in its early stage, the best 
directed efforts will fail of success, and the mortality 
will be great. 

WORMS IN THE INTESTINES. 

We now approach a very interesting and important 
part of our investigations. 



108 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

By some by far too much importance has been 
attributed to these entozoa and by others perhaps 
too little. 

We shall endeavor to describe, as minutely as is 
profitable, the different kinds of worms that infest 
the intestines of the hog, and the symptoms indicating 
their presence, and the treatment best adapted to 
destroy and expel them from the bowels. 

Several varieties of worms are found in the bowels 
of the hog. Among these may be particularly men- 
tioned the following : The common lumhricoid^ the 
ascarides, and the tape-worm. 

When either of these varieties are found in the 
bowels in very great numbers (which is frequently 
the case), they give rise to much irritation, and occa- 
sionally to inflammation and death. They may exist 
in either section of the bowels from the stomach to 
the rectum (or lower end of the canal), but the ascar- 
ides are most frequently found in the lower bowel, 
though they have occasionally been found in the small 
bowels and even in the stomach ; they sometimes 
infest the bowels in great numbers, giving rise to 
great irritation and distress. 

The Tape-worm. — These parasites in their mature 
state inhabit the bowels of almost all vertebrated 
animals, but are oftenest found in the intestines of 
the dog, the hog, and man. The hog is especially 



THE ALIMENTARY CANAL. 109 

liable to them on account of liis habits ; being an 
all-eating animal, he is more apt to devour articles 
containing the eggs of these parasites. In these 
transitional stages, the tape-worm occm^s as cysU^ or 
little sacs in the flesh and organs of such creatures 
as form the food of their true bearers or hosts. 
These cyds^ of which it is thought the measles in 
swine furnish an example, were not properly under- 
stood till about the latter part of the seventeenth 
century, and in the eighteenth century it was 
announced by Gotze that their heads resembled 
those of the tape-worm. In 1844, Steenstrup, Sie- 
bold, Dujardin, and Kuchenmeister, the latter cer- 
tainly the highest authority on questions of this kind, 
showed conclusively that these cysts taken into the 
stomach of flesh-eating animals ultimated in tape- 
worm. These are interesting facts, and should be 
studied and remembered. As an illustration of the 
foregoing statements, the author refers the reader to 
the chapter on diseased meats, and to the statement 
made by Dr. Thomas E. Jenkins. The author has 
seen and examined the cysts above spoken of, and is 
satisfied that the statement here made is true. 

The tape-worm consists of three parts — viz., head, 
neck, and joints. The head is a minute object, 
usually square, and provided with varieties of suckers, 
discs^ and a sort of crown of horns or hooks, by 



110 



TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



which it attaches itself to the walls of the bowels. 
(See cut on this page.) The neck is slender and 
marked by transverse wrinkles, which are gradually 
converted into joints. With age these joints increase 
in number, and finally become ripe, while new ones 
are continually given out from the head to supply 
the place of those discharged. Their growth is rapid, 
and some species attain a length of one hundred feet, 
while others are only a few lines long. There are 
many varieties of the tape-worm, but it would not be 
profitable to enumerate them in a work of this kind. 
The practical fact is that the hog is peculiarly liable 
to this parasite, and that the tcenia solmm (tape- 
worm) in man and the ei/sticercus cellidosw in swine 
are the same. In the hog the author has rarely seen 
the worm attain a greater 
length than eighteen inches, 
and from that down to half 
an inch. 

The accompanying cut will 
give a very good idea of the 
tape-worm in the hog. The 
cut was taken from a section 
of the gut of a hog. Two large 
and two small worms are 
seen with their heads buried 
in the wall of the gut. The 




THE ALIMEiNTARY CANAL. Ill 

one on the right (C) is partly detached, and the dark 
spot just above the head shows the point to which the 
head was fastened. The left of the figure (B) shows 
the head entirely buried in the wall of the bowel. The 
dark figure in the center of the cut, between the two 
large worms (B and C), marked A, is the head of the 
tape-worm magnified fifty diameters. On each side of 
the head are the hooks or horns, by which the worm 
attaches itself to the walls of the bowel. This ar- 
rangement of the head will explain why the tape- 
worm is so difficult to expel from the bowels; in 
fact, the head is often broken off in our attempts to 
detach them. 

Worms of all kinds multiply with very great 
rapidity, particularly in hogs that have become poor 
or diseased. 

We may mention also in passing (for we purpose 
devoting a chapter to the special consideration of this 
variety of entozoa) the trichina spiralis. It is scarcely 
necessary to describe the common lumbricoid worm 
so often seen by every one, but would simply say 
that this variety is the least injurious and the most 
easily expelled of all the worms found in the bowels. 

The symptoms indicating the presence of Avorms 
in the intestinal canal are quite accurately though 
very briefly given by Youatt. He says that the 
presence of worms may be inferred when the animal 



112 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

eats voraeiouslf/ and yet continues lean and out of 
condition, coughs, runs restlessly about, uttering 
squeaks of pain, becomes savage, snapping at his 
companions, and destroying poultry, etc., that come 
in his way. The excrements are generally hard and 
highly colored, the eyes sunken, the animal becomes 
daily more debilitated, and frequent attacks resem- 
bling colic tend still further to weaken him. Too 
often he dies, for before these symptoms have been 
noticed the evil has generally attained to such a 
height as to be beyond the power of medicine ; for 
these parasites, and the echenorhinic especially, mul- 
tiply with incredible rapidity. 

No doubt all the above is true, yet the most re- 
liable sign after all is to see and know that the hog 
suspected to have Avorms is actually passing them 
from the bowels. This is the only positive evidence 
of their presence, and this can only be determined 
by careful watching. The tape-worm is frequently 
thrown off by sections of from a few inches to a foot 
or more at a time, and this is the time to give 
remedies to expel them. 

TREATMENT. ilH 

Very strong purgatives are generally relied upon f | 
to expel worms, and are no doubt in most cases suf- 
ficient; yet there are objections to be urged to these 



THE ALIMENTARY CANAL. 11 



9 



drastic purgatives. Much mischief may be done by 
them, as they are apt to force away with them the 
lining membrane of the bowel, especially that class 
of purgatives which act very poAverfully upon the 
large gut. 

In most cases, particularly where we have to deal 
with the common lumhricoid or ascarides^ turpentine 
will be found an excellent remedy, as it is known to 
be exceedingly destructive to worms; and, although 
to many of our domesticated animals a dangerous 
medicine, it may be administered with perfect safety 
to the hog. A tea-spoonful may be safely given at 
a dose. Calomel, from its known effects in this w^ay 
on the human subject, may also be given with good 
effect; from forty to fifty grains may be given at a 
dose, to be followed in from six to twelve hours by 
a brisk purgative of aloes, or castor-oil will be found 
efficacious. Common salt in abundance should be 
given the animal, mingled with his food, or in any 
other way that he can be induced to take it. Many 
other medicines, such as worm-seed, arsenic, pump- 
kin-seed, sulphate of iron, etc., have their advantages, 
and are doubtless useful. 

The author prefers the worm-seed, which may be 

obtained at almost any drug-store. This seed may 

be made into a strong decoction., and mingled with the 

food or poured down the animal's throat, but this will 

10 



114 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

be a very difficult operation. Next to the above 
he would urge the administration of calomel in the 
doses already mentioned, and spirits or pure washed 
oil of turpentine. But all these will sometimes fail 
to remove the tape-worm. An emulsion made by 
rubbing the freshly-bruised pumpkin-seed in warm 
water till it becomes as thick as cream, and given 
freely for a day or two, and then followed by a strong 
purge of powdered aloes or oil, will often succeed in 
bringing away the tape-worm. The author urges a 
trial of this simple means. 

THE KIDNEYS AND BLADDER. 

The kidneys are situated in the ahdomen^ on each 
side of the spine, in the lumhar region or loins. The 
kidneys separate or secrete the urine from the blood, 
which, if not taken out of it, would poison the ani- 
mal. It will be readily seen therefore that they 
perform an important part in the animal economy. 
When the urine is thus separated it passes as it were, 
drop by drop, through a tube of small caliber, which 
goes from the kidneys to the bladder, into the latter 
organ, which is so constructed as to retain it till the 
proper time, when it is expelled from the body. 

The bladder, when distended, looks like and is 
really a bag, large at one end, gradually growing 
smaller as it reaches its other extremity, and termi- 



THE ALIMENTARY CANAL. 115 

nates in a narrow channel called the urethra^ through 
which it discharges its contents from the body. 

The kidneys and bladder " seem but little subject 
to disease in the hog." The bladder is ^^ protected 
by the surrounding structures from injuries without, 
and the hog. not being exposed to those causes which 
render the horse and dog peculiarly liable to disease 
of the bladder — viz., speed, long, fatiguing exercise, 
etc. — seems to be comparatively exempt from it." 
(Youatt.) 

There is, however, occasionally a case of inflam- 
mation of the bladder, as evinced by frequent desire 
to pass iirine^ and a straining in the effort, accompa- 
nied with indications of pain. There are also cases 
in which stone has been discovered after death. But 
it must be admitted that this is one affection to which 
the hog is least liable. 

The treatment should be very simple. Flaxseed- 
tea, nitrate of potash, and cooling drinks, and avoid- 
ance of heated and irritating food, will in most cases 
be sufficient to remove the difficulty. A simple 
saline purgative will generally be necessary. The 
food should consist principally of bran-mash, and 
milk or slops. 



116 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



n 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE SKIN AND ITS DISEASES. 

Its structure — Gangrenous erysipelas — Lice; how to destroy them — 
Leprosy; its history; treatment — Mange; its cause; treatment — 
Measles; its nature; cause; treatment. 

"The skin of the hog," says Youatt, "like that of 
most other animals, is composed of separate parts or 
layers. The first or exterior of these is the cuticle 
or scarf skin, which covers the whole surface of the 
body, and protects the more sensitive parts from the 
injuries which might result to them from immediate 
contact with external agents. It is a thin, tough, 
callous texture^ perforated with innumerable holes or 
pores, through which pass the hair and bristles, 
and whence exude those transioirations by means of 
which the body throws off all impure vapors inju- 
rious to the system. Chemical analysis has proven 
it to be chiefly composed of gelatine^ and conse- 
quently tougher and denser in the hog and other of 
the 'pachjdermita than it is in the horse, ox, and most 
of our domesticated animals." 



THE SKIN AND ITS DISEASES. 117 

Beneath this is the 7'ete mucosum, a soft expansion 
of tissue, which overspreads and can with difficulty 
be separated from the layer below it. Its purpose 
appears to be to protect the termination of the blood- 
vessels and nerves of the skin, which it in a measure 
envelops or covers. This layer determines the color 
of the body and of the hair. 

The third and undermost part is the cutis vera or 
true skin, an elastic tissue composed of innumerable 
minute filers, crossing each other in all directions, fit- 
ting closely to every part of the frame, yielding by 
its elasticity to ail the motions of the body, and in- 
terposing its dense, firm structure between the more 
vital parts of the system and external injuries. In- 
numerable blood-vessels and nerves pass through it, 
and appear upon its surface in the form of papillce. 
It is in fact far more sensitive than the muscles or 
flesh. 

The skin varies in density in different breeds of 
swine. In some of the large old breeds it is thick, 
coarse, tough, and almost as impenetrable in compar- 
ison as the hide of a rhinoceros; while in many of 
our smaller breeds, and particularly in those which 
have a considerable admixture of Asiatic blood, and 
in the Chinese pigs themselves, it is soft, fine, and 
delicate, and bears no slight degree of resemblance to 
the skin of the human being. 



118 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

"It is not to be wondered at that a structure so 
delicately organized as the one we have been de- 
scribing should be subject to disease. In the hog it 
is peculiarly so. Many of the most serious maladies 
to which he is subject have their seat in the skin. 
It were a point well worthy of study to inquire into 
the reason of this fact." 

The foregoing is certainly the best description of the 
anatomy of the hog yet presented. Perhaps sufficient 
stress has not been put on the 'physiology of the skin. 
The function of the skin is of the first importance to 
the health of the animal. As has been intimated by 
Youatt, much of the impure material of the system 
is thrown off' by means of the skin, which, if not 
so disposed of, would cause disease. The free action of 
the skin is essential to the relief of disease of what- 
ever kind. As the good j)hysician gives especial 
attention and care to the action of the skin in the 
treatment of diseases to which the human body is 
subject, so he that would treat the diseases of the 
hog successfully must understand the importance of 
this structure in health and disease. The skin is 
highly endowed with nerves, and hence sensation in 
its greatest intensity and acuteness is found in this 
structure. Being highly organized, having innumer- 
able blood-vessels, it follows that the diseases of the 
skin are among the most painful to which the hog is 



THE SKIN AND ITS DISEASES. 119 

liable. The author can not refrain from saying in 
this place that it is greatly owing to ignorance on 
this subject that the poor hog has to suffer. Care- 
lessness in providing for him proper bedding and 
shelter and attention to cleanliness are the prolific 
source of many of the diseases of the skin. 

It may be urged that some of these diseases of 
the skin are caused by lice and insects and vermin 
of various kinds. This is admitted, but it is urged 
in reply that these are engendered by filth, and most 
abound where filth most abounds, and where the ani- 
mal has been fed on unwholesome food. Vermin 
revel in filth and poverty, and this is not only so in 
regard to hogs, but in regard to all animals. Some 
hogs suffer much more than others, in consequence 
of having thin skins. The white hog, for example, 
has a thinner and more delicate skin than the com- 
mon, old-fashioned, black, long-legged, long-nosed, 
slab-sided 

Some skin diseases are hereditary^ as we shall see, 
and other points that might be mentioned, and yet 
my statement is true that it is largely owing to filth 
and improper feeding that causes most of 'the skin 
diseases of the hogs, even those produced by the 
acari or scahii and lice. Diseases of the skin would 
be of comparatively rare occurrence if it were kept 
in good condition — i. e., kept clean — so that its pores 



120 TREATISE ON THE IKJG. 

are open through which the impurities ah'eady re- 
ferred to may find escape. Not only may disease 
of the skin be obviated by keeping it in a clean, 
healthy state, but the known sympathy subsisting 
between the skin and the bowels sometimes causes 
disease in the latter, such as climThea, inflammation, 
etc.; and this also holds good in regard to the kid- 
neys, for when the skin ceases to perform its appro- 
priate function there is additional labor for the 
kidneys, and thus disease of these organs may result; 
or the impure material retained in the system by the 
non-action of the skin serves to produce irritation, 
and sometimes serious disease in some important 
internal organ, either of the chest or ahdomen. 

The most important diseases of the skin will now 
receive attention. The first disease to receive atten- 
tion is an exceedingly formidable one, though happily 
not very common. 



GANGRENOUS ERYSIPELAS. 

The author confesses that he has not met with this, 
and therefore avails himself of the facts collected 
by Youatt. He says : " This disease, frequently 
spoken of by the ancient writers as prevailing to a 
greater or less extent, and often almost as an epi- 
demic^ among sheep and swine, is now of rare 
occurrence. Poulet thus describes the symptoms." 



THE SKIN AND ITS DISEASES. 121 

The first of these, which lasts some five or six 
days, are uneasiness, inquietude, depression of spirits, 
loss of appetite, and inertness. About the seventh 
or eighth day these gradually increase in intensity ; 
the limbs totter, the body is alternately hot and cold, 
the ears droop and are cold, the head appears heavy, 
the tongue is discolored, the breath foetid^ a thick 
mucus flows from the nostrils, and the whole of the 
skin becomes tinged with an eri/sipelatous redness, 
which is most evident under the belly. The animal 
utters almost incessant screams of pain. This inflam- 
matory state of the integuments rapidly merges into 
decided gangrene^ and the whole diseased surface 
becomes of a livid blue or violet hue. The skin is 
first covered with blisters containing a thin reddish 
watery fluid, and as these break the gangrenous, dark 
colored scabs are formed. The disease is, however, 
by no means of so fatal a character in swine as it is 
in sheep, probably because the former is the stronger 
animal. 

A dose of Epsom salts, cooling drinks slightly 

acidulated, and strict attention to diet and cleanliness, 

are generally all that will be required. Should the 

skin appear to be very irritable a little sweet-oil may 

be rubbed over it, or some sulphur made into a kind 

of ointment with sweet-oil or palm-oil, but local 

applications are not generally requisite. 

11 



122 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

Exposure to great heat or cold, or any sudden 
transition from one extreme of temperature to 
another, are supposed by some authors to be the 
cause of the disease ; while others, and we think with 
justice, attribute it to unwholesome or j)utrid food, 
and to general inattention and neglect. 

LICE. 

When swine are allowed to wallow at pleasure 
in filth and mire, and are confined in filthy sties, or 
fed on unwholesome food, or allowed to get poor, 
and the blood impoverished and impure, these vermin 
are quickly engendered, and they multiply with 
astonishing rapidity. They are excessively annoy- 
ing, and sometimes even burrow into the skin, and 
by their irritation and the rubbing of the animal 
against anything with which he can get in contact 
sores are formed, and the skin is rendered scabby, 
and they so worry and fatigue the animal as to 
utterly prevent them from thriving. (Youatt.) 
''' Eric Viborg states that these vermin sometimes 
burrow their way into the flesh, and come out through 
the eyes, nostrils, or mouth, or have been known to 
be voided in the urineT 

It has been alleged by some recent writers for the 
newspapers that these vermin are the cause of what 
is popularly known as " hog cholera," but this seems 



THE SKIN AND ITS DISEASES. 123 

to the author simply absurd. The first step to be 
taken toward effecting a cure is thoroughly to cleanse 
the skin from every particle of dirt, and clean out 
and whitewash the sties and put in fresh dry litter. 
A variety of remedies have been used to destroy 
these pests; probably the best is mercurial ointment, 
turpentine, or tobacco-water. Sulphur given inter- 
nally, and copperas-water both as a wash and given 
internally, will be sufficient to destroy these vermin 
in every case. 

" The preventive measures are, strict attention to 
cleanliness both in the sties and in the animals them- 
selves. Whenever a pig is observed to be lousy, 
which will quickly be perceived by his rubbing him- 
self against the gates, ti:ees, and walls, he must be 
immediately separated from his companions, or else 
they too will become infested with lice, if they are 
not already so." (Youatt.) 

Parkinson is of opinion that " the cause of vermin 
infesting animals clearly arises, in a general way, 
from bad -eeding, which occasions weakness of the 
blood ; for," says he, " if an animal be ever so lousy, 
by giving him strong food for a few days, the vermin 
will disappear, probably because the rich blood is 
poison to them." He considers " that a free access 
to water for bathing, and also occasional exposure to 
heavy rain, is not only necessary to the general health 



124 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

>■ 

of swine^ but a most excellent preventive against 
vermin^ 

These observations of Parkinson are clearly philo- 
sophical and right. That these vermin multiply much 
more rapidly in a debilitated state of the system 
there can be no doubt; therefore give your hogs 
plenty of pure water and wholesome food, and these 
pests can not exist. 

LEPROSY. 

This disease has apparently existed in swine from 
the remotest periods, and Tacitus gives it as his 
opinion that it was because the hog was subject to 
leprosy that the Jews were forbidden to eat of its 
flesh. It consists in the, development of certain 
vesicles or whitish granulations in all parts and por- 
tions of the cellular tissue, which vesicles have been 
proven to be neither more nor less than a species of 
worms termed the cysticercus cellulosw, supposed by 
some French writers to be of the same species as 
that found in the brain of the sheep. There are, 
however, considerable differences between the two. 
The cysticercus is found in all the cellular tissue and 
soft parts throughout the whole of the body; in the 
fat; in the adipose matter; in the interstices between 
the muscles ; in the viscera ; and, in short, every 
crevice into which they can insert themselves." 



THE SKIN AND ITS DISEASES. 125 

" The thigh or ham has been mentioned by some 
authors as the principal seat of these vesicles, but 
they are also found on the shoulder, around the jaws, 
along the neck and belly, and even underneath and 
around the root of the tongue, where alone any out- 
ward leasion indicative of leprosy can be in general 
discovered, and even here they are not constant, but 
are chiefly evident in those animals in which the dis- 
ease has attained to a great height. The progress of 
leprosy is very insidious, and the early symptoms so 
little marked that a practical eye only can detect 
them." 

The symptoms of this complaint usually commence 
with the formation of a small tumor in the eye, fol- 
lowed by general prostration of the spirits ; the head 
is held down, the whole frame inclines toward the 
ground, universal languor succeeds, the animal refuses 
food, languishes, and rapidly falls away in flesh. 
Blisters soon make their appearance beneath the 
tongue, then upon the throat, the jaws, the head, 
and the entire body. 

" The flesh of a leprous pig is said to possess most 
pernicious qualities, and as doing so, to be indepen- 
dent of our disgust, wholly unfit for human food. 
The cause of this disease is the want of cleanliness, 
absence of fresh air, want of due attention to venti- 
lation, and foul feeding." (Beatty.) 



126 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

We have thus laid before the reader the opinions 
of two writers as to the cause of this loathsome 
affection. Happily the disease is of rare occurrence ; 
indeed, the author is not aware that a well authenti- 
cated case has ever been seen in America ; but if the 
theory of Beatty be true, and is to be received as the 
correct one, then surely no reason exists why we may 
not have the disease, since the conditions mentioned 
by him as producing it are so often met with. The 
author inclines to the theory of Youatt, for the reason 
already given, that if a want of proper cleanliness and 
want of pure air and bad feeding were the cause it 
would be a very common disease in this country. 
Doubtless these things would serve to aggravate, but. 
in the judgment of the author, could not produce it. 

Perhaps the best plan of treatment, and indeed the 
only rational one, and so far as the author is in- 
formed the only one known to us, is proper attention 
to cleanliness, cooling drinks, unirritating food, etc. 
The medicines most relied upon to effect a cure are 
sulphur, arsenic, and black sulphuret of antimony; 
wash the animal with soap and water, and keep him 
in a dry, clean sty. 

MANGE. 

Mange is a very common affection among swine. 
The opinion which prevailed, that the disease in 



THE SKIN AND ITS DISEASES. 127 

question was caused by filth or some impure state 
of the blood, has given place to a more rational and 
scientific solution. 

It is generally admitted that the disease is caused 
by a certain minute insect called acari. " It is," says 
Youatt, ^'identical with the scab in sheep and the itch 
in the human being." As far back as the twelfth 
century these acari scahii were discovered by an 
Arabian physician; subsequently they were noticed 
and described by several German and Italian writers; 
and in 1812 and 1814 Herr Waltz, a German veter- 
inarian^ and M. Gohier, an eminent French veterinary 
surgeon^ found these insects in, and gave drawings of, 
and described those peculiar to almost all our domes- 
ticated animals. 

The microscope in modern times has cleared up all 
doubts on this question as to the existence of these 
insects, and it has been demonstrated beyond ques- 
tion that they do produce mange in swine, scab in 
sheep, and itch in the human being. 

Youatt thinks that the hog is not so liable to this 
disease as the sheep, the horse, and the dog; how- 
ever this may be, it is certainly a very common 
affection in the hog. "In swine," he says, ^'the pus- 
tules are usually developed under the arm-pits and on 
the interior of the thighs. They at first consist 
simply of red spots, vesicles, or pimples, but these 



128 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

gradually become connected together by minute bur- 
rows or furrows existing beneath the skin, and 
eventually unite in the form of large scabs, which 
the animal, irritated by the itching, rubs into large 
blotchy sores." 

When the mange is recent, a pretty strong decoction 
of tobacco or digitalis will often prove an efficacious 
wash for the diseased parts. When, however, the 
disease has lasted for a long time, and has baffled all 
other remedies, and has degenerated into scabs and 
sores, a solution of arsenic, in the proportion of one 
ounce to a gallon of water, or perhaps, what is better, 
sulphur and mercurial ointment in the proportion of 
one ounce of the former to a drachm of the latter, 
carefully and thoroughly rubbed together, and then 
rubbed into the skin, must be resorted to. (Youatt.) 
Soot boiled in water till a strong decoction is made 
has been found very efficacious. Creosote has also 
been used. If the animal is fat, cooling purgatives 
should be given ; and for this purpose saline pm^ga- 
tives are the best. Two ounces of Epsom salts in a 
warm bran-mash, to be given to a hog of average 
size, increased or diminished according to the size of 
the animal. The salts ought* to be previously dis- 
solved in warm water before mixing it with the bran- 
mash. (Beatty.) He also advises the following to 
be given in every meal after purging : One table- 



THE SKIN AND ITS DISEASES. 129 

spoonful of flour of sulphur, of niter (saltpeter) as 
much as will cover a sixpence (a tea-spoonful), for 
from three days to a week. When the fiery red 
places disappear, and the scales fall off, and the 
pustules are no longer formed, then the disease has 
given way, and the remedies may be discontinued. 

The black sulplieret of antimony and the nitrate of 
potash — a half tea-spoonful of the former, and a tea- 
spoonful of the latter — given in the food three times 
a day internally, and one of the ointments already 
mentioned rubbed on externally, will relieve the 
most obstinate case, provided proper care be given 
to cleanliness, food, fresh air, exercise, etc. The last 
mentioned are all important, and no good will result 
from medicine where they are neglected. Though 
the foregoing observations are strictly true, both as 
to the nature of the disease and its treatment, yet 
something further appears to the author necessary in 
this connection to make the matter understood and 
to render it practical, and adapt it to the actual 
condition of things as they exist in the southern 
and western portions of our own country. It is 
well known that a large majority of farmers give 
but little attention to sties and houses for their 
hogs ; the animal is therefore left to his own inge- 
nuity, and whatever resources may be in his reach, for 
bedding, shelter, and often for food itself. They 



130 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

generally have access to old, lialf-clecayed straw- 
stacks, and refuse from the stable reeking with 
noxious gases; they bury themselves in these places, 
become heated, the pores of the skin closed, and 
often a dark, tenacious coating is seen adhering to 
the skin, under which these little acayH of which we 
have been speaking find a congenial soil and hiding- 
place, and soon begin to manifest their presence. 
There can be but little doubt that the conditions 
above stated give the best possible condition for the 
production of the disease. Is it not highly probable 
that in these old straw-stacks and heaps of stable 
refuse these insects are hatched? And thus in these 
hot-beds the disease is developed. 

The author is satisfied that the dark gelatinous 
coating already referred to has much to do in pro- 
tecting the acari, and therefore strict attention should 
be given to its removal with strong soap and warm 
water. When this is carefully done, local remedies 
such as have already been advised reach the disease, 
and of course are more effective. 

MEASLES. 

"■ This, although a skin disease, is rather suhciita- 
ncous, consisting in a multitude of small, Avatery 
pustules dcA^eloped between the fat and the skin, and 
indeed scattered throucrhout the cellular tissue and 



THE SKIN AND ITS DISEASES. 131 

adipose matter. It has been regarded by some 
writers as a milder form of leprosy, and so far as our 
limited knowledge will allow us to judge^ this suppo- 
sition appears by no means an erroneous one." 

The external appearances are reddish raised 
splotches or patches, more particularly seen in the 
arm-pits and the inside of the thighs at the first, and 
afterward on other parts of the body, or it may 
cover the entire surface. The symptoms are general 
disturbance of the system, quick pulse, heat of skin, 
cough, discharge from the nostrils, loss of appetite, 
nausea (sick stomach), puffiness or swelling of the 
eyelids, and congestion of the blood-vessels of the 
eye itself, feebleness of the muscles, particularly of 
the hinder extremities, and the formation of blackish 
pustules under the tongue. Eventually the skin 
usually comes off in patches. 

Beatty thus describes the disease: "Redness of 
the eyes, foulness of the skin, depression of spirits, 
decline or total departure of the appetite, small pus- 
tules about the throat, and red and purple eruptions 
of the skin. These last are more plainly visible 
after death, when they impart a peculiar appearance 
to the grain of the meat, with fading of its color and 
distension of the fiber so as to give an appearance 
similar to that which might be produced by punctur- 
inu: the flesh." 



132 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

It is a question of interest whether the disease in 
swine is identical with that in the human being. 
The features of the two are in some respects alike, 
but very dissimilar in other important particulars. 
The fever, the redness and puffiness of the eyes, the 
running of the nose, etc., are identical, but the erup- 
tion certainly differs in some essential items. But it 
is not our purpose to discuss this matter here, as 
it has perhaps but little practical bearing on the 
matter in hand. It is often a troublesome disease to 
get rid of, and this is particularly true if the disease 
has been badly managed in the beginning. This 
affection is not confined to any particular class of 
hogs, but all are alike liable to its ravages. Nor has 
the condition of the animal as to fat anything to do 
with it, since both fat and poor hogs are the sub- 
jects of it. 

The probability is that the disease is contagious, 
as indeed are most of the diseases of the skin. 
Beatty thinks that the disease is caused by dirt, com- 
bined with the common fault too little thought of, 
namely, giving the steamed food or wash to the pigs 
at too high a temperature. This may be to some 
extent true, yet it is difficult to believe that this 
could do more than produce simple inflammation by 
scalding the parts with which this heated matter was 
brought in contact, and in this way redness and even 



THE SKIN AND ITS DISEASES. 13 



o 



ulcers and scabs on the skin might be produced. It 
is to be remembered that the eruption is preceded by 
certain signs which plainly indicate constitutional 
disturbance, such as running of the nose, redness 
and swelling of the eyes, and fever; then follows the 
eruption, and then decline of fever, and shedding of 
the skin (scarf skin) — all these in regular order. It 
can not be doubted that filth and other local irrita- 
ting surroundings aggravate the disease. 

The cause must be sought for behind these mere 
local matters. Is it a blood disease; or, as Youatt 
suggests, may it not be hereditary^ or be caused by 
"a variety of the cy dicer cusf These are questions 
yet undetermined, but the author inclines to the 
latter opinion, and believes that the time will come 
when the microscope wiU demonstrate its correctness. 

As to the question of the propriety of making 
food of the flesh of measly pigs, there ought to be 
but one answer. It ought never to be done, as there 
can scarcely he a question that it is unwholesome, not 
to say disgusting, and may he j^oisonous. The man- 
ner of determining this, as well as other diseased 
meats, will be treated of in another part of this 
work. 

The disease in question is but seldom fatal, and 
can only prove so when improperly treated and the 
animal badly managed. By exposure to cold and 



134 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

dampness, the animal may contract some other dis- 
ease, as inflammation of the lungs or bowels, and be 
carried off, but this can only result from inattention 
to the actual wants of the animal in a state of disease. 
The treatment is very simple, consisting of cooling 
drinks, low diet, and mild purgatives, and some 
simple remedies directed to the skin and kidneys, 
such as Epsom salts as a purgative, sulphur and 
nitrate of potash to act upon the skin and kidneys, 
and if the cough is very distressing, sal ammoniac 
{muriate ammonia) in tea-spoonful doses, mingled in 
the food (the muriate of ammonia must be finely 
powdered) three or four times a day. The following 
receipts will show how much of each article is a dose : 
Pulverized muriate of ammonia, one ounce; divide 
into eight parts; one of these will be a dose. This 
article is cheap and in no way dangerous. Nitrate of 
potash, one ounce; flour of sulphur, half an ounce; 
divide into eight parts — one of these parts three 
times a day, in bran-mash or flaxseed-tea. A little 
oil or grease of any kind may be rubbed on the sores 
or tender places, to shield them and allay itching and 
irritation. Good, Avholesome food, protection from 
cold and damp places, pure water to drink, and per- 
severance in the simple medicines suggested, will 
cure a vast majority of cases. 



(-'HOLERA. loJ 



CHAPTER IX. 

CHOLERA. 

Difficult to manage — Very mysterious — Conflicting views concerning 
it — Epidemics — Name cholera impi'operly applied — Its fatality — Sup- 
posed loss by its ravages — External appearances of the disease — 
Symptoms of the disease — Symptoms numerous — The premonitory 
symptoms to be pai'ticularly noticed. 

The disease now under consideration is confessedly 
the most fatal, wide-spread, and difficult to under- 
stand of all the diseases to which the hog is subject. 
Perhaps no disease among our domesticated animals 
has been so terribly fatal or more difficult to manage 
as hog cholera — so-called. Indeed the disease seems 
to have been veiled in mystery, and the most con- 
flicting views have been advanced at various times 
and by various writers and observers in regard to it, 
both as to its nature and cause; and, like the great 
epidemics that have swept away the human species 
from time to time that even the most scientific have 
widely differed as to their cause, so it is not wonder- 
ful that there should be different theories and specu- 



136 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

lations in regard to the great epidemics that have 
swept away millions of this lower order of the animal 
creation. We are not able to trace the history of 
this disease with any degree of accuracy further back 
than the year 1854, though there can be little 
doubt that the disease existed long anterior to this 
date, though not so wide-spread, and perhaps under 
a different name. Certainly at no time since 1854 
has there been a time when the disease was not doing 
its fatal work in some section of our country. 

As to the name "cholera," it is difficult to say why 
it should have been so designated, since but few of 
the symptoms peculiar to that disease are present in 
this. The name is singularly inappropriate, as but 
few if any of the signs marking that disease, and 
from which it takes its name, in the human subject, 
could be affirmed of the disease of the same name in 
the hog; but since this is the name by which it has 
been designated and by which it is generally known, 
the author does not intend to offer a different one. 

From 1856 to 1858 the excitement became general 
throughout the country. Many farmers almost aban- 
doned hog raising, while some of the distillers pre- 
ferred to lose their slops rather than risk their means 
in the purchase of stock hogs to consume it, while 
the consumers feared to buy the pork for the reason 
that it might produce disease. During the years 



CHOLERA. 137 

1856 and 1858 the disease assumed the form of a 
wide-spread epidemic throughout nearly the whole of 
the hog-growing districts of the United States. It 
was not confined to any particular locality or any 
particular class of hogs, but all classes were alike 
sufferers, and many thousands perished, and the loss 
to the owners was enormous. 

A few brief quotations from an able article by Dr. 
Sutton, of Dearborn County, Indiana, may not be out 
of place as showing the fatality and the excitement 
consequent upon it in that locality : " In this sec- 
tion of country it has been extremely fatal. Over 
portions of Dearborn County it spread from farm to 
farm, and some of our farmers lost from seventy to 
eighty out of the hundred of their hogs. At the 
distilleries the mortality has been very severe. I 
received information that more than eleven thousand 
died at the distillery in New Richmond in the sum- 
mer and fall of 1856. The oAvners of the distillery 
at Aurora inform me that they have lost between 
six and scA^en thousand. A gentleman informs me 
that he lost in 1856, at Ingraham's distillery in Cin- 
cinnati, from the 1st of August to the 24th of 
October, 2,408. Another gentleman informs me that 
at the distillery in Petersburg, Kentucky, he lost 
from the 1st of June up to the 18th of October, 1856, 

2,576. It was not, however, more fatal in the distil- 

12 



138 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

leries than on the farms, in proportion to the number 
attacked." * 

As an evidence of the extent to which this disease 
devastated the herds of swine in the year 1857, the 
number of hogs reported in all the places where the 
business of packing was carried on in the West, in 
1857, was 1,818,468, and the previous year (or 
1856) 2,489,502, showing a deficiency in 1857 of 
671,034. This deficiency may be in part accounted 
for by the shortness of the corn crop, but the great 
bulk of the deficit must be attributed to the ravages 
of this dread disease. In some of the southern states 
the disease was wide-spread and very fatal, and few 
counties or even neighborhoods in Kentucky escaped. 
It would be simply impossible to ascertain the pre- 
cise loss in this country, or even a close approxima- 
tion to the loss, by this great destroyer of the hog. 
We believe, with Dr. Snow, that the number reaches 
not only thousands, but even millions. The writer 
has taken much pains to gather information on this 
interesting question, and the estimates of different 
persons in various parts of the country have been 
sought and obtained. These of course do not agree, 
as might be expected, since in some localities the 
disease was more wide-spread and fatal than in others, 
but none have estimated the loss to be less than 
* North American Medico-Chirurgical Eeview, May, 1858. 



CHOLERA. 



139 



twenty per cent.; in many instances the loss was 
fifty per cent., and in some places as much as eighty 
per cent. Now, in order to avoid exaggerations, we 
propose to put the loss at twenty-five per cent, 
(which in fact is below the actual loss), and put the 
value at five dollars per hog, which is certainly not 
extravagant, and we have most astonishing results. 
Six states, the most noted for the number of their 
hogs, are taken for illustration. These estimates as 
to the number raised by each state are taken from 
the agricultural report of the Patent Office for the 
year 1867. The following table will show the re- 
sults, and to which attention is now invited: 



States 

Indiana 

Illinois 

Ohio 

Kentucky 

Tennessee 

Yirginia 

Total 



No. Hoffs. 



2,555,811 
2,272,640 
2,206,177 
1,884.284 
1,312,556 
1,055,945 



11,287,413 



Loss. 



638,952 
568,160 
551,544 
471,071 
328,139 
266,486 



2,824,352 



Value $5. 



$3,194,760 

2,840,800 
2,757,720 
2,355,355 
1,640,695 
1,332,430 



$14,121,760 



In a more general way, let us suppose that there 
were, in 1856, 40,000,000* hogs; the loss was say 
one fifth by cholera, which would be 8,000,000. Let 
us suppose them to be worth seven dollars per head; 
thus the loss would be in one year $56,000,000 
'•"l^ew American Cyclopedia, Yol. IX. 



140 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

This valuation it will scarcely be contended is 
too high; indeed the valuation per head, in 1865, 
was $8.55. The above figures will serve to show 
the immense importance of hog culture in the United 
States, as well as the tremendous losses sustained 
both to the public and private wealth by this terrible 
disease. But we may even reduce the figures to 
$20,000,000 loss per year in the whole United States 
for a period of ten years, and we have the enormous 
sum of $200,000,000 ; or even reduce it to half the 
above and it is still appalling. To the writer it is 
simply astonishing that so little attention has been 
devoted by scientific men and legislators to the pro- 
tection of this valuable animal, from which is de- 
rived the greater part of the animal food consumed 
by the people of this country. When the cattle 
plague visited this country some few years ago the 
excitement ran high, and thousands of dollars were 
voted by legislative bodies and expended in investi- 
gating and experimenting to determine the nature, 
cause, and treatment of that dreadful scourge, that 
its ravages might be stayed and eradicated alto- 
gether, and much success attended these labors. It 
was a wise expenditure of money and time, as the 
results proved. But as yet little if anything has 
emanated from our learned legislative bodies, either 
state or national, looking toward encouragement to 



CHOLERA. 141 

those who might be willing to investigate this dread- 
ful scourge among swine. 

The author does not wish to weary the reader by 
any further multiplication of facts in regard to the 
importance of the matter in hand, but would now 
invite patient and careful attention to the observa- 
tions and experiments to be detailed in regard to the 
nature and causes of the disease in question. Unless 
the reader can divest himself of prejudice, and is 
willing to give the matter a careful and patient ex- 
amination, all his efforts will be of no avail. The 
author wishes to state in advance that he lays no 
claim to learning, but proposes simply to give the 
results of his observations in a plain, common-sense 
w^ay, avoiding technical language as much as possible. 

Without further delay let us consider the symp- 
toms or, as physicians say, the rational signs of the 
disease. These are numerous, and many of them 
well marked, but it must be remembered that all the 
symptoms as herein mentioned are not found in 
every case of cholera. vSome may be w^anting, but 
in the main the symptoms here detailed will be 
recognized by all who have given the disease any 
attention. 

First of all there may be noticed a kind of lan- 
gour or indisposition to move. The hog does not 
manifest his usual energy and cheerfulness. He 



142 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

will lie down most of the time, ami when he does 
move it seems to be with an effort. There is a stiff- 
ness and an inertness which is quite observable. 
His appetite is poor; he does not eat with his accus- 
tomed greediness, and finally refuses food altogether. 
His thirst is very great ; he drinks large quantities 
of water, and seems never satisfied with drinking. 
He may have fever ; his urine is scanty and high- 
colored ; sick stomach is a common symptom, though 
by no means invariable ; he may have retching and 
vomiting — sometimes this is quite distressing — which 
in most cases depends upon inflammation of the 
stomach. The matter vomited varies in appearance ; 
it is sometimes simply mucus, and sometimes mu- 
cus and bile mixed, and occasionally the mucus is 
mixed with blood, giving the appearance of brick- 
dust. If the hog has eaten anything, this is throwr 
up in a sour state and undigested. Diarrhea is a r 
uncommon symptom, though often wanting. Man^; 
hogs die of this disease without either vomiting or 
purging. The matter purged may be watery, dark, 
and offensive, or mucus and blood, resembling dysen- 
tery or flux, attended with griping and straining, and 
sometimes wdth protrusion of the large gut. There 
is in almost every case in poor hogs more or less 
cough, sore throat, wheezing, heaving of the flanks, 
and difficulty of breathing. The cough begins as a 



CHOLERA. 143 

mere hacking when they arise from their beds in the 
morning ; the cough increases day by day till it be- 
comes quite distressing, accompanied with thumps or 
throbbing of the sides. The hog staggers, rests his 
nose on the ground, and there is frequently bleeding 
of the nose. Soon he lies down, and is unable to 
get up ; the breathing becomes more and more diffi- 
cult, and soon death closes the scene. 

The skin is almost always diseased. There is red- 
ness of the skin, heat, dryness, and roughness of the 
hair. There are hardened places of variable sizes, 
ranging from the size of a dime to that of the bottom 
of a pint cup, and even larger. These hardened places 
break, particularly on the legs, feet, and ears, and 
become running sores, and are a great source of 
annoyance, and serve to debilitate the animal. These 
sores, particularly on the legs and feet, become 
sloughing sores, or, as they are termed, gangrenous 
sores, and so great becomes the destruction that in 
extreme cases the flesh drops off" the bone, and even 
the feet rot off. Lice are frequently found in great 
numbers ; they burrow in the skin and are a source 
of much irritation and discomfort. Occasionally the 
appetite remains good and the digestion tolerable, 
and the hog gets fat, but suddenly he gets sick, has 
cough, may vomit a few times, and the owner is much 
astonished to see him tumble over and die. This 



144 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

usually results from congestion of the lungs. Fat 
hogs frequently die suddenly in the way already 
mentioned. There can be but little doubt that in 
these cases of sudden death of fat hogs the seeds of 
the disease existed in them previous to their becom- 
ing fat, but the digestive organs remained free from 
disorder, and that to the lungs we are to look for the 
cause of the death. 

The writer would ask particular attention to the 
'premonitory signs of the disease, as it is at this stage 
that treatment is most successful, and not only is 
this true, but it is equally important to the purchaser 
of stock hogs to make himself familiar with the very 
earliest symptoms of the disease, as it will save him 
from much loss and trouble. Long before the most 
destructive and severe symptoms set in, the signs 
already detailed are present. At the risk of appear- 
ing tedious, the following synopsis of these early 
symptoms are again repeated. They are : First, 
languor, dullness ; second, failure to a greater or 
less extent of the appetite ; third, great thirst ; 
fourth, scant, high-colored urine ; fifth, cough on 
rising out of their beds ; sixth, hanging of the ears 
and resting the nose on the ground; seventh, drynesia 
and redness of the skin. 

These symptoms may be noticed by the careful ob 
server for a considerable time before those of a mort 



CHOLERA. 146 

violent kind come on, and when present should warn 
the owner or purchaser that very soon the graver 
symptoms will appear, unless proper means are at 
once employed to arrest the disease. 

13 



146 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



CHAPTER X. 

POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES. 

The heart — Windpipe — Lungs — Liver — Gall-bladder — Stomach — Bowels 
— Kidneys and bladder. 

Being only a plain farmer, the writer can not of 
course be expected to go minutely into a description 
of the diseased organs, but simply to relate in a plain, 
concise way the changed appearances as they pre- 
sented themselves to him in numerous bodies ex- 
amined, and a comparison of the observations of 
others with his own. These examinations embrace 
all the important organs of the body, particularly the 
lungs, the heart, stomach, bowels, liver, and bladder. 

the heart. 

As this is the great organ of the circulation, it is 
chosen for the beginning. This organ sometimes, 
nay, often presents evidence of disease. It may be 
enlarged or shriveled and smaller than the natural 
size. Its^ substance is sometimes in a state of soften- 
ing, and it is paler than natural, or it may be in some 



POST-MOKTEM APPEAliANOES. 147 

cases much darker. The sac surrounding the heart 
— the pericardium — is frequently filled with a fluid, 
or from an inflammatory condition of this sac may 
be adherent at some point. In either case the heart's 
action is perverted. There is found in some cases a 
blood clot in the cavities of the heart, or it may be a 
tough, fibrinous tumor. 

WINDPIPE AND LUNGS. 

It may be truly said that these organs are always 
found diseased in hog cholera, certainly in every case 
examined by the writer ; indeed, the air passages 
throughout present evidences of inflammation. There 
are in many cases ulcers on the nasal mucous mem- 
hrane, and in nearly if not all there is inflammation 
of this membrane. The natural pink color of the 
nasal membrane is changed to a purplish or red; 
sometimes this redness is intense. The membrane is 
thickened and covered with dry ulcers, or it throws 
off a glary^ tough mucus, sometimes mixed with pus. 
The upper part of the throat and the larynx (upper 
part of the windpipe) is generally much inflamed, 
and the mucous membrane thickened and ulcerated, 
which accounts for the loss of voice so frequently 
noticed. This membrane is sometimes so much dis- 
organized that it may be easily torn with the finger 
nail. 



148 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

It is by no means uncommon to see in the larynx 
and windpipe large numbers of thread-like worms — 
some white, others reddish in color. The writer ob- 
tained the aid of a microscope, and by the kindness 
of two of his scientific friends * it was clearly 
demonstrated that these worms were none other 
than the trichina spiralis. (This matter will be 
treated of in another place more fully.) 

The windpipe is always inflamed, presenting much 
the appearance of the larynx. 

The lungs present the most astonishing amount of 
disease, and evidences of inflammation and other 
changes are found in every case. There has been no 
case examined by the writer or any one else who has 
written upon the subject, or with whom he has com- 
municated, that does not bear testimony to this 
point. Both lungs are generally diseased, though one 
lung generally more than the other. The left lung 
IS oftenest the seat of disease. 

First of all, on opening the chest, it will generally 
be found that the pleura (investing membrane) is 
adherent to the lung, and requires some force to 
break them apart; or the adhesion may be to the 
ribs. This indicates that there has existed inflam- 
mation of this membrane^ by which means the adhe- 
sions were produced. There is also an enlarged 

* Dr. Thoma8 E. Jenkins and Professor J. L. Smith. 



\ 



POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES. 149 

appearance of the lungs — not collapsed, as is the 
case in a healthy state of the organ after death. 
Upon making pressure with the finger the lung is 
found to present a solid feehng to the finger, and 
there is not that elasticity of healthy lung structure. 
A lumpy, hardened feeling will be observed. These 
tumors or lumps are of various sizes. The air-cells 
and bronchial tubes are filled with bloody mucus 
and pus. 

Now if an incision be made through the substance 
of the lung, numerous tubercles and small abscesses 
are cut through. These abscesses contain a yellowish 
matter, and in some of them a cheese-like substance 
is seen. Parts and sometimes the whole of one 
lung is found hepatized (liver-like.) This liepatized 
part will not, like healthy lung, float on water. 
These little abscesses sometimes contain a dark and 
exceedingly offensive material. 

If the animal should hve for a short time longer, 
the hepatized portion becomes softened, and is expec- 
torated, and a cavity is left. The author pretends 
not to be a competent judge, but he believes he has 
repeatedly seen tubercular matter in the substance 
of the lungs. This tubercular matter is in various 
stages of development, from the exceedingly small 
bodies of the size of millet-seed to that of an ounce 
ball; some of them hard, and some in a softened 



150 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

state, cheese-like in consistence, and even soft, as 
thick pus or matter. 

THE LIVER. 

This organ is often though not always diseased, 
nor does it present the same diseased appearance in 
every case. The organ may be shriveled, or, on the 
other hand, increased in size. It sometimes presents 
to the eye a lighter hue than in health. In some 
cases its surface presents an uneven, hardened, 
lumpy appearance, and when cut sacs or ci/sts are 
observed, from the size of a pea to that of a hen's 
Qgg or even larger. These sacs are filled with a 
fluid, clear like water; these are usually near the 
surface of the organ. Others are found more deeply, 
and contain a yellowish substance somewhat heavier 
than water. In some cases there are abscesses of 
various sizes seen, containing pus, which is some- 
times thick and yellow or brownish, and sometimes 
of lighter color and thinner. The structure or sub- 
stance of the liver presents a coarse, granular ap- 
pearance, with a pale, striped, grizzly look. These 
stripes are not confined to the surface, but run 
through the substance of the organ. 

The gall-bladder is filled to bursting in some cases ; 
in others almost empty. The bile in some cases is 
thick, almost like tar in consistence. 



POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES. 151 

THE STOMACH. 

This organ is, as before stated, frequently in a 
state of inflammation, and the mucous membrane soft- 
ened. The color may be a light red, or very dark 
red or purplish hue. In many cases, however, 
the writer found the stomach perfectly healthy in 
appearance. 

THE BOWELS. 

The bowels, though by no means as frequently 
affected as some of the organs already described, are 
sometimes the site of serious inflammation through- 
out their whole length, and to such an extent as to 
produce softening and ulcers. In some cases the 
inflammation spends its force upon one or other sec- 
tion of the organ. The seat of the inflammation 
may be confined to the large gut, in the sacs of which 
is found a yellow, jelly-like substance which seems to 
adhere with considerable tenacity to the mucous mem- 
hrane, but which may be scraped off; this is also 
sometimes seen in the stomach. When ulcers are 
seen, they are usually (though not confined to that 
section of the bowels) in the small bowel. When 
inflammation does not exist, the sacs of the large 
bowel are filled with dry dung. The membrane that 
holds the bowels in place (the peritoneum) is 



152 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

frequently found in an inflamed state, and adlierent 
to the bowels. The peritoneum is often found stud- 
ded with tubercles in various stages of development. 
The small bowels contain the yellow, tenacious mucus 
before mentioned, and in addition large numbers of 
worms, either the common lumbricoid or the tape- 
worm. The tape-worm may be found with his head 
buried in the walls of the bowel, and when pulled 
away leaves a sore as large as the thumb nail. Un- 
digested food is frequently found in both the small 
and large intestines. Pus is also seen mixed with 
mucus, and a frothy material, the nature of which is 
not known to the writer. In many hogs that have 
died from cholera no disease whatever is found either 
in the stomach or bowels. When this is the case the 
bowels are constipated. But in those cases in which 
the bowels are inflamed, and in the condition already 
described, the animal has diarrhea or dysentery ^ at- 
tended with straining and protrusion of the gut. 

THE KIDNEYS. 

Though not so frequently found in a diseased state, 
yet they have in some cases presented very marked 
changes, and it may be peculiar diseased appearance. 
This change was presented in the form of masses 
having a reddish cast and a fatty feel, and the organ 
itself being paler than natural. In other cases there 



POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES. 153 

was a jelly-like substance, resembling clotted blood, 
surrounding the organs. These unnatural growths 
were filled with sores and pus or matter. On cutting 
the kidneys open worms were found, but this is not at 
all uncommon, and is therefore not peculiar to this dis- 
ease. The urine is frequently changed in appearance 
from the healthy character. It frequently contains 
pus and mucus and other material. When the urine 
becomes clear the case generally terminates favorably. 

THE BLADDER, 

Like the kidneys, is often found diseased, but is in 
many cases, like the stomach and bowels, perfectly 
healthy. In those cases where disease is found it 
is on the inside, and particularly at the neck of the 
organ, but the walls are sometimes greatly thickened, 
as the result of inflammation. * This inflamed surface 
may be the site of ulcers from which pus is secreted 
or forn^ed. As before stated, the urine in these cases 
is mixed with matter, and a whitish substance sup- 
posed to be albumen and mucus. The organ is some- 
times elongated, presenting the appearance of a long, 
narrow sac, of not more than half its natural diame- 
ter, and sometimes firmly adhering to the peritoneum 
or lining membrane of the belly, where it covers the 
bladder and cysts containing a fluid, and sacs con- 
taining pus were found surrounding it. 



164 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



CHAPTER XI. 

REPORT OF PHYSICIANS OF COLES COUNTY, ILL. 

Report of Dr. W. M. Allen, of Jefferson County, Kentucky — Views of 
Dr. Sution, of Indiana — Mr. Higgins, of Maryland. 

The following cases were examined in the presence 
of the physicians whose names are appended, and the 
notes were taken by them and are strictly correct. 
It will be perceived that these examinations were 
made in Coles County, Illinois, where the cholera 
was raging at that time, and carried off great num- 
bers of hogs. • 

Following these cases, we call attention to the 
reports of Dr. Allen, of Jefferson County, Kentucky, 
and particularly to the case to which we have before 
referred, as one illustrating the chronic form of this 
disease. This case is interesting, and shows how 
the disease may be propagated, and a debilitated, 
diseased offspring produced. 

This important matter is only alluded to in this 
place, as it is the purpose of the author to give 
particular attention to it in a different connection. 



REPORT OF PHYSICIANS OF COLES COUNTY, ILL. 155 

Particular attention is therefore called to the report 
of Dr. Allen, that the reader may better understand 
the reasons that have led to certain conclusions. 

REPORT OF ILLINOIS PHYSICIANS. 

"The following is a brief report of post-mortem 
examinations held on hogs affected with the disease 
called cholera, at Milton, Coles Co., 111., May, 1867 : 

"Case No. 1. — Heart and Membrane. — The jt?m- 
cardmm contained from two to three ounces of serum. 
The heart flaccid, walls thinned, endoca?'dmm rather 
pallid. 

"Lungs. — The right lung adherent to the ribs; 
both lungs liepatized in lower portion, infiltrated with 
purulent matter, interspersed with small, thread-like 
worms from one to two inches in length. Upper por- 
tion of lung engorged with bloody, muco-serous fluid. 
The mucous membrane of the oesophagus florid. The 
trachce and bronchial tubes filled with frothy serum, 
mingled with mucus ; urinary bladder inflamed, coats 
thickened, and of a pale yellow or buff color. The 
neck of the bladder highly inflamed. 

"Stomach inflamed, containing a number of worms 
similar to those in the lungs. 

" The fceces in the rectum hard and dry. The small 
intestines filled with fluid and vitiated bile. 

" Case No. 2.— In this case the lungs were engorged 



156 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

with bloody serum, hepaUzed, dotted thickly with in- 
durated or tumor-like substances, resembling coagu- 
lated blood. Bile filling all the 'biliary ducts of the 
liver. Stomach highly vascidar, lined internally with 
a substance spread over the mucous membrane, re- 
sembling vitiated bile. 

" The abdominal viscera, especially the rectum and 
colon, adherent to an apparently adventitious substance 
surrounding the kidneys, which was a diseased mass 
of mottled and various appearance, interspersed with 
tuberculous deposits, and would weigh from one to two 
pounds. 

" Case No 3. — Heart normal. Mucous membrane of 
trachce filled with frothy and somewhat bloody mucus, 
in which were some of the small, thread-like worms. 
Lungs hejpatized to some extent. There were many 
of the same worms in the bronchia. The liver was 
normal. The gall-bladder was filled with thick 
gelatinous, tar-like bile. The spleen atrophied in right- 
hand portion. The mucous membrane of the stomach 
was in part reddened, and the rest pale and corru- 
gated in large, worm-like folds. The small intestines 
were engorged with lumbricoid worms, which were in 
turn filled with small worms of the same species. 

^^Case No. 4. — In this case the lungs presented a 
dark, mottled appearance, engorged with dark-colored 
blood, showing congestion of these organs. The 



REPORT OF PHYSICIANS OF COLES COUNTY, ILL. 157 

stomach highly vascular ; the trachce filled with a 
frothy, bloody, muco-serous fluid; the liver contained 
a number of tubercles. All the hogs examined had 
tubercles in various organs — lungs, liver, kidneys, 
etc. — ^in various stages of development. 

''External Appearances. — The animals affected pre- 
sented a very red appearance of the skin, especially 
about the throat, and general emaciation. They were 
affected by cough, wheezing, difficult breathing, and 
had but little appetite for food. 

" In the first case examined the lungs were filled 
with tubercular deposits, some of which were in a 
state of suppuration^ which last contained the small, 
thread-like worms. The hogs examined were affected 
with cholera^ which is very prevalent here. 

^"We, the undersigned, practicing physicians of 
Milton, Coles County, Illinois, hereby certify the 
above to be an abstract of the notes taken at the 
examination of cholera hogs held by James A. 
Heasor, assisted by us, in which we have described 
the appearances presented as nearly as we could with 
the appliances at hand. We regret that we had not 
a glass of sufficient power to show the appearances 
more minutely. H. L. Stewart, M. D., 

Chas. M. Odell, M. D., 
Geo. W. Brewer, M.D., 
Thos. M'Commuck, M. D." 



158 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

The following is a description from memory of a 
post-mortem examination of a fine young Chester 
boar that was affected, to all appearances, precisely 
as many others were, of which no examinations were 
made. 

" Refusal of food ; short and difficult respiration, 
with every indication of a pleimtic stich ; great pros- 
tration, with a disposition to lay on the belly, with 
the feet drawn under. The skin on the chest and 
belly red. Some shivering. The breathing rapidly 
became more difficult and labored till he died, which 
was about fifty or more hours after the attack was 
noticed. 

'*^Upon examination, twenty-four hours after death, 
found the bowels healthy; peritoneum healthy; nothing 
the matter with the viscera below the diaphragm. The 
pleural sacs full of water, and great inflammation of 
the pleural membranes, with shreds of false mem- 
branous attachments. The pericardium full of water, 
and that membrane in the same condition as the 
pleural. The heart shriveled and small. The right 
lung completely hepatized, whilst the left was con- 
siderably so. The large bronchial tubes full of tough 
mucus of a brick-dust color, with some froth, etc. 

'' The windpipe looked healthy, but was pretty 
well filled with tough, white mucus. It was clearly 
a case of pleuro-pneumonia with pericarditis. 



REPORT OF DR. ALLEN, OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, KY. 159 

" The affected hogs had been kept separated from 
the other hogs, and this one was taken from the lot 
as soon as it was ascertained that he was sick. It 
was the second attack that he had had, the first time 
only slightly. This attack followed a cold, wet spell 
of weather, in which their bed became muddy, and 
in which they persisted in sleeping. 

W. M. Allen, M. D." 

The following is a report of the appearance of the 
body of a hog upon examination made by Dr. Allen, 
in our presence, and written out at our request. 

This hog had what is usually termed hog cholera 
last autumn, about the last of September (1866), and 
was, like many others that had it, inclined to be 
shy, keeping away, so that there was no very good 
opportunity of observing the disease. 

The first thing noticed was a refusal of food, 
standing aloof from the others at feeding-time, finally 
refusing to come up at all, but remaining hid in the 
briars and weeds. He walked with his legs drawn 
under, and stepped very short, as if the abdomen was 
very tender. He remained in this condition nearly 
two weeks, when he gradually recovered. 

I did not at any time observe with this hog or the 
others any purging or vomiting; but, to the contrary, 
the evacuations were healthy. This hog was turned 



160 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

into the corn-field with the fatting hogs, and seemed 
quite well, eating heartily, but never became fat 
enough to butcher, and was turned out with the sows 
and pigs to winter. This spring he became lame with 
enlarged hock-joints, and the testicles very much 
enlarged; also bumps nearly as large as an Qgg 
appeared upon his body; and though he ate freely, 
yet he got very poor. 

When castrated the scrotum was found to contain 
a large quantity of inspissated pus, and the testes 
were firmly adhered to the surrounding tunic. He 
was killed on the 15th of May, and the body exam- 
ined on the 16th. In cutting through the skin the 
first thing noticed was the escape of pus from a vein, 
mixed with blood. The bladder was found firmly 
adhered to the peritoneum anteriorly, and surrounded 
with c?/sts or sacs of pus of cheesy consistence. It 
was also very much elongated and thickened, pre- 
senting a long, narrow sac of not more than half its 
natural diameter. 

The omentum (that membranous curtain that hangs 
down over the bowels, and which is a continuation or 
loose end of that delicate membrane which lines the 
inside of the belly, and is reflected over and con- 
stitutes the outside covering of the bowels, called 
peritoneum) was found stufied between the stomach 
and the bowels, and firmly adhered. 



REPORT OF DR. ALLEN, OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, KY. 161 

The bowels generally healthy, except some adhe- 
sion posteriorly. The right kidney surrounded with 
pus, the left one healthy. 

The stomach, except about one third of the mucous 
membrane, which was of a brown, dirty color, with a 
patch of the membrane an inch or more in length, 
entirely destroyed as if by violence, there being no 
appearance of suf juration or pus in the stomach any- 
where, nor any unusual thickening of its coats. 

The liver was found to be of natural size, but 
indurated (hardened), and the lower half of an ashy 
gray color upon being cut, while the upper part was 
full of tubercles. 

The pleurce (those membranes which line the inside 
of the chest, and which are reflected over on the 
lungs on the outside, thus forming a sac on each 
side) adhered in several places on each side, re- 
quiring considerable force to sever the attachments, 
indicating the previous existence of great inflam- 
mation. 

The lungs generally healthy, save an unusual red- 
ness of the outside or pleural covering. The wind- 
pipe healthy. The heart and its appendages healthy. 
No worms found in either the bowels or lungs, as is 
not unfrequently the case. The blood coagulated. 
No examination was made of the brain. The hock- 
joints surrounded with sacs of pus too thick to dis- 

14 



162 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

charge without pressure when cut. Lumps of the 
same on his sides. 

This case was primarily one of peritonitis^ involv- 
ing the bladder also, and pleuritis, or inflammation 
of those membranes just described. How much the 
lungs may have been involved we can not tell, as 
recovery from pneumonia may be so complete as to 
leave no traces behind it. We think that in the 
majority of cases there is pneumonia; especially is 
this true in those cases that die suddenly. We are 
of opinion that when the attack has been severe in 
the outset, the hog rarely if ever entirely recovers, 
but that sooner or later (sometimes months) local 
inflammation and suppuration appear, sometimes at- 
tacking one organ and sometimes another, generally 
the joints and feet; sometimes the feet slough off. 

It not unfrequently occurs that in butchering we 
find lumps or ci/sts of pus in the muscles, or in the 
liver or lungs, or in one or all of them at the same 
time. These ci/sts are often very large, and the pus 
is of a cheesy consistence, and manifests very little 
disposition to point to the surface and discharge. 
This pus is taken into the circulation by absorption, 
producing that poisoned condition of the system 
known among medical men as pycemia. Hogs in this 
condition can never, in our opinion, be considered fit 
for food. 



POST-MORTEM APPEARANCE. 163 

If this disease continues to spread through the 
hog-producing districts of the country, the farmer 
will be compelled to look to some more reliable source 
of revenue, aijd the community to a more wholesome 
article of food. 

Before leaving this part of the subject, it is but 
just and proper to give the views of several able 
writers. 

Mr. J. Higgins, State Chemist of Maryland, who 
has carefully investigated the disease, describes the 
symptoms as lassitude, loss of appetite, hoarseness or 
husky grunt approaching to a cough, sHght diarrhea, 
yellowish urine, paral?/sis of hind legs or small of the 
back, tottering gait, and speedy death. 

Dr. Sutton, of Aurora, Ind., gives a more detailed 
account of the symptoms, which may be summed up 
as follows : Debility, drooping of the head, and 
soon after diarrhea, the discharges being yellow when 
the animal was fed slop, and dark-colored when corn 
constituted the chief food. Frequently there was 
vomiting; sometimes bloody evacuations, with tenes- 
mus resembling dysentery. In some cases there was 
cough and difficult breathing ; in others, inflammation 
of the throat; loss of voice; swelling of the tongue; 
bleeding from the nose, which might be swelled; 
swelling and inflammation of the legs, eyes, ears, or 
some other parts of the surface. SometMriOS there 



164 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

were gangrenous spots on the legs, belly, sides, etc. 
Some became delirious, others blind, and nearly all 
attacked died in from two to five days. "These 
symptoms," says Dr. Sutton, "were combined in 
almost every variety." 

Mr. Higgins found in the cases examined by him 
an apparently healthy condition of all the organs ex- 
cept the lungs and bronchial tubes, and these were 
affected in different degrees by inflammation from 
simple engorgement to complete destruction of the 
lung tissue. He did not find any well-defined ab- 
scesses in any of the lungs. The left upper lung, 
according to his observation, was generally the most 
affected of the two. He examined the blood of 
healthy pigs and that of those about to die of this 
disease, and found the proportion of fibrin in the 
healthy as 2.33 to 1000, and the diseased 5.60 to 
1000, with a larger but less firm and brighter clot 
than in healthy blood. 

Dr. Sutton examined forty-seven hogs that died 
of this disease, and found no two precisely alike. 
He found in all a diffusive form of inflammation in 
some organ or tissue, seemingly of the erysipelatous 
kind. In different cases this inflammation was found 
upon the skin and subjacent tissues, which were of a 
dark purple color, and infiltrated with serum. In most 
of his cases the mucous membrane of the stomach was 



POST-MOllTExM APPEARANCE. 165 

inflamed, bright red, and tumefied. Blood was some- 
times found in the stomach, which was occasionally 
filled with it. If there had been diarrhea or dysen- 
tery, the intestines were more or less marked by in- 
flammatory action in various parts in different cases. 
Sometimes the bladder participated in the inflamma- 
tory condition, and blood was occasionally found 
effused into it. In eighteen cases the peritoneu7n was 
inflamed, and in some of them adhesion between the 
different contiguous peritoneal surfaces had taken 
place. To quote his language : " Suffice it to say 
that I found the liver, the lungs, the jjleura, the peri- 
toneum^ the mucous membrane of the bronchia, the 
trachea and larynx, all at different times bearing 
marks of inflammation ; frequently one or both were 
engorged or hepatized, and adhering to the ribs." 

Other observers corroborate the observations here 
mentioned, and some give the additional fact that in 
their cases large numbers of intestinal worms, resem- 
bling the ascarides or the lumhricoids, were found in the 
small intestines, not far from its connection with the 
stomach, and in some of such cases, if they did not 
cause, they at least greatly added to the inflamma- 
tory condition. 

The above quotations have been taken from the 
Agricultural Ueport of Indiana. 

It will be seen that these observations coincide 



166 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

with our own in most particulars, and certainly in 
the essential points. 

We call the reader's particular attention to one 
point in the statements of Dr. Sutton and Mr. 
Higgins; viz., that in nearly all the cases examined 
by them they found inflammation, or evidences of it. 
in the air passages and in the lungs. We have not, 
in a single case now remembered, or of which we 
have notes, seen a case in which there was not either 
simple inflammation, engorgement, or hepatization. 
We venture the assertion that there can not be a case 
found after death in which the windpipe, larynx^ 
bronchial tubes, or the lungs are not diseased. 

We hope these facts will be kept in memory, for 
they point, it seems to us, unerringly to the cause 
of the disease attempted to be established in these 
pages. 

The author would say, before concluding this 
chapter, that he can not agree Avith Dr. Sutton and 
others that. hog cholera is a contagious disease, as he 
has as yet seen nothing to convince him that it is so. 
Many carefully conducted experiments and close 
observation are necessary to establish this theory. 
As before stated, the author has given especial atten- 
tion to the disease in all its phases, and observations 
and experiments have led him to the conclusion that 
it is not contagious. It was for a long time believed 



POST-MORTEM APPEARANCE. 167 

that Asiatic cholera was contagious, but certainly 
the great majority of the medical profession at this 
day do not believe in the theory of contagion so fetr 
as this disease is concerned, and so too in regard 
to many other diseases. The experiments of Dr. 
Sutton and others are deserving of attention, and 
should receive the thanks of the farmer and the 
medical profession. It is a fact that goes to show 
that the disease is not contagious, that no one has 
received any injury whatever by making examina- 
tions of the bodies of hogs that have died of hog 
cholera. Dr. Sutton examined forty-seven, and 
received no injury; Dr. Snow also examined many 
without injury; and the author has examined more 
than two hundred hogs that had died of cholera, 
and though his hands were chapped, and the skin 
rubbed off, and although he handled the diseased 
organs freely and repeatedly, yet in no instance did 
he receive any injury or irritation or local disease 
whatever. He therefore concludes that it. is a doubt- 
ful theory. 

But, whether the disease is contagious or not, it is 
certainly safe and proper to separate the healthy 
from the diseased hogs; for in so doing a better op- 
portunity is given to prevent the former from taking 
the disease, and a better chance to treat those that 
are already diseased. Practically, therefore, it is of 



168 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

little consequence whether the disease is contagious 
or not. Let this suffice on this point, as it would not 
j]^^haps be profitable to discuss this matter at length. 
The great point, after all, is to treat subjects of this 
kind in a plain, practical way. 



CAUSES PRODUCING CHOLERA. 169 



CHAPTER XII. 

CAUSES PEODUCING CHOLEKA. 

Experiments — Observations in pens — Long attention given to its 

study. 

In the two preceding chapters a brief description 
of the diseased appearances of hogs that had died 
of cholera have been given. This description em- 
braces as minute and correct an account of the 
changes produced by the disease, both external and 
internal, as it was possible to give. It will be seen 
by the careful reader that these diseased appear- 
ances vary very materially in different cases exam- 
ined, but while this is true, some particular changes 
and evidences of disease are found in nearly every case. 
This variety already referred to has given rise to 
many opinions and theories as to the cause or causes 
of the disease in question. While it is not the wish 
or intention of the author to enter into a discussion 
of the various theories, yet he believes it proper to 
give the views of a few of the best writers, and this 

will best be done by giving their own language, 

15 



170 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

The first of these writers to which he calls attention 
is Dr. Sutton, of Aurora, Indiana, w^ho seems to have 
given the disease much attention, and, like all the 
rest, seems in doubt in regard to the nature of the 
disease, but gives his opinion pretty emphatically as 
to its cause. He says : 

^'At first I was inclined to believe this malady to 
be a form of fleiiro-imemnonia^ but after I became 
better acquainted w^ith it I found that the inflam- 
mation was not uniformly confined to any organ. In 
a number of instances the mucous membrane of the 
bronchia was deeply inflamed, and the inflammation 
extended to the trachea and larynx. In several 
instances the larynx was inflamed, resembling laryn- 
gitis. One animal that had great difficulty in breath- 
ing, and could make no noise, I had knocked in the 
head, and on examination I found the mucous m.em- 
brane of the larynx and epiglottis inflamed and 
swollen; also the tongue was swollen. There were 
evidences in several instances of ])ericarditisy which 
had produced adhesions between the heart and 'peri- 
cardiumJ' '''^' 

Dr. Sutton therefore thinks it impossible to give 

the disease a name which will express its nature. 

The cause he believes to be atmospherical poison, 

and that the disease is a true epizootic or epidemic^ 

♦North American Medico-Chmirgical Eeview, May, 1858, 



CAUSES PRODUCING CHOLERA. 171 

and in this view Dr. Snow, of Providence, Ehode 
Island, concurs, though Dr. Snow does not seem 
to agree with Dr. Sutton that it is contagious. He 
says, after declaring cholera and yellow-fever non- 
contagious: 

" So I firmly believe it will soon be with reference 
to this and other similar diseases among animals. 
They are not contagious, and the belief that they are 
so is productive of great injury in the adoption of 
measures for their prevention." (Patent Office Re- 
port, Agriculture, 1861.) 

The name of cholera is certainly very inappropriate. 
Dr. Snow says: "This is a general disease of the 
whole system, resulting from some poisoning of the 
blood;" and then adds: "The name of hog cholera 
is therefore entirely improper, as it represents only 
one of the several prominent symptoms. The dis- 
ease might as correctly and as incorrectly be called a 
pleuro-pneumonia'' It is a fact, as the writer has 
already shown, that there is little if any resemblance 
to cholera in the human subject, as the diarrhea, upon 
which true cholera depends for its distinctive feature, 
is in many cases of so-called cholera in the hog en- 
tirely wanting; but, as before stated, the writer does 
not propose a new name, since the disease is now so 
generally known by that name. 

The important question now presents itself, What 



172 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

is the cause of hog cholera ? To an answer to this 
question we now propose to call the earnest attention 
of the reader. Many attempts have been made to 
answer this important question, and, as we have 
shown, these answers have been conflicting, and 
therefore can not all be true, nor indeed does the 
writer believe any of them to be correct. 

The following notions have from time to time been 
entertained; viz., first, atmospheric poison; second, 
worms; third, lice. 

As to the first we actually know scarcely anything 
at all. No one, scientific or otherwise, can by any 
process determine what poison the atmosphere carries, 
nor from whence it emanates. It is simply an ac- 
knowledgment that we do not know what does pro- 
duce the disease. This has been the cry for ages in 
regard to every disease which has prevailed exten- 
sively. It has been sufficient to say that a disease 
has been produced by atmospheric poison. That 
poisons may be conveyed in the atmosphere is not 
denied, but that this is an explanation in the case in 
question is denied. 

In regard to the other two, it is simply absurd to 
suppose that they do more than act in a secondary 
way ; but they can not produce the results observed, 
for if they were the true cause of the disease they 
would be found in every case after death, which is 



CAUSES PRODUCING CHOLERA. 173 

by no means true. Then the question still recurs, 
What is the cause of the disease ? 

Many experiments and years of close obserA^ation 
have convinced the author that what is called hog 
cholera depends for its production upon three j^rm- 
cifal causes, and that all others are simply secondary 
or merely exciting, not producing causes. These are : 

First. Dust and gases arising from decaying vege- 
table matter and animal refuse. These produce irri- 
tation and inflammation in the air passages, and even 
"penetrate into the small bronchial tubes and air cells ; 
thus congestion and inflammation are produced. Hence 
the disease has been more wide-spread and fatal in 
years of drought. 

Second. Exposure to cold. Pleuro-pneumonia is 
produced in this way, and often speedily carries off 
many hogs; and this is particularly the case with 
pigs. Their powers of resistance are less than older 
hogs, and they fall an easy prey to exposure. This 
illustrates a fact frequently noticed in those that 
have died from this cause, that the disease is essen- 
tially an inflammation of the lung and its covering, the 
pleura, while the other organs are found in a healthy 
state. Still this form of disease is known by the 
name of cholera by almost every one. 

Third. The disease is propagated from diseased 
parents. This is much more common than many 



174 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

persons will be willing to admit; but the author 
believes that he can show this point to the satisfac- 
tion of any one. The disease, in fact, becomes 
tubercular, and this tubercular constitutmi is as cer- 
tainly/ communicated to the offspring of the hog as it 
is to the offspring of the human species. 

Doubtless the foregoing views will appear absurd 
to many persons, but the writer begs such persons to 
examine the evidence and the facts which he now 
proposes to present, in substantiation of the three 
positions taken, before deciding the point. 

In the fall of the year 1858 the writer bought a 
lot of stock hogs, apparently in perfect health and 
very thrifty, and put them in a clover-field which he 
intended breaking up in the following spring ; they 
w^ere fed twice a day regularly ; they seemed per- 
fectly well, when suddenly, without any visible cause, 
they began to be sick and to die rapidly. Some 
remedies suggested by a neighbor were used with 
apparently good results in a few cases, but most of 
them died. Those of his own raising, however, 
although treated in precisely the same way, escaped 
the disease. The writer determined to give the 
matter a thorough examination. The bodies of all 
that died were examined. In many of them worms 
were found in the large intestine, and still more in 
the small gut, and in some of them worms were 



CAUSES PRODUCING CHOLERA. 175 

found in the stomach. There was more or less 
inflammation both of the stomach and bowels. These 
worms in some of the bodies examined were found in 
large numbers, and the conclusion arrived at was that 
these worms were the cause of the disease, and that 
if the animal could be relieved of these entozoa the 
disease would be cured. Vermifuges, such as tur- 
pentine, arsenic, etc., were given, and successfully so 
far as destroying and expelling the worms was con- 
cerned, but the hogs still continued to die. It was 
plain that the cause had not been discovered. Find- 
ing the diseased animals infested with lice, the con- 
clusion was that these vermin might be the cause. 
These were easily destroyed, and still there was no 
abatement of the disease. Careful nursing was now 
resorted to, such as cleanliness and proper protection 
against the inclemencies of the Aveather. For this 
purpose suitable sheds or houses with plank floors 
were prepared for them. Clean, dry beds were pro- 
vided for them, and changed as often as necessary ; 
these beds were composed of good, dry straw. This 
was evidently a step in the right direction, for the 
animals became apparently healthy, while the hogs of 
our neighbors who neglected these measures continued 
to sicken and die. Now, certainly the proper pre- 
ventive means had been discovered by which this 
terrible scourge might be kept at bay. In the spring 



176 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

of 1859 the writer purchased another lot of stock 
hogs that seemed to be sound. These hogs were 
turned in the fields with those of his own raising, 
and all fared precisely alike, but in a short time these 
also began to show signs of disease. The supposition 
began to be very strong that these hogs had the dis- 
ease lurking in them at the time they were purchased, 
and upon inquiry it was found that they had been 
fed the previous winter on dry corn alone, with no 
grass or slops, and had been kept in a barn-yard, 
where they wallowed and made their beds in the dust 
and manure from the stables, and that some of the 
lot of which these were a part had actually died of 
cholera. 

All treatment seemed to be unavaihng, though 
everything that promised to be of any service was 
tried. They began to vomit and purge, and death 
speedily came to their relief. As before, their bodies 
were opened and carefully examined, but neither 
worms in the bowels nor lice on the surface were 
found. The stomach and bowels were in a state of 
inflammation. The liver was badly diseased ; lumps 
were seen which were supposed to be tubercles, or 
perhaps abscesses. There were whitish stripes and 
spots over the surface of the liver and through its 
substance. The lungs contained the same sort of 
lumps or tubercles,, some of them in a softened state 



CAUSES PRODUCING CHOLERA. 177 

and containing matter yellowish in color, while others 
were black and exceedingly offensive to the smell. 
The greater portion of both lungs was in a solidified 
or hepatized condition ; in some cases this solidified 
part had a reddish and in others a grayish color. Of 
course the worm and louse theory was out of the 
question, and was abandoned, as these were only 
incidental and in no way causative ; but that these 
vermin do much mischief is certain, and that, in rare 
cases, they cause the death of the animal is possible, 
but that they are the cause or a cause of this disease 
is simply absurd. The fact that if they are the cause 
of the disease they would be found invariably after 
death is quite sufficient. 

Having his mind directed to a certain agent as 
likely to be the main agent in the production of 
cholera, the writer now determined to try an experi- 
ment. A healthy sow, which a few days before had 
given birth to eight pigs, was put in a shed entirely 
dry and dusty. She was fed with the slops from the 
kitchen and given water regularly. The pigs grew 
finely, and to all appearance were doing well for some 
ten or twelve days, when they began to wheeze and 
cough. In a few days more they lost the use of 
their legs, and seemed to be totally blind; breathing 
became more and more difficult, and in a week from 
the time they began to show signs of disease they 



178 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

were all dead, and the sow was so much diseased as 
to do no good afterward. This was in warm weather. 
The bodies were examined. The lungs appeared 
swollen, and had the red solidified or hepatized look 
and feel, though not to the same extent as those pre- 
viously examined. The bowels were inflamed ; there 
were no worms in them. Two of these pigs were killed 
after they had become so diseased as to make it 
certain that they would die, for they could neither 
stand nor suck. They were bled, in order that the 
blood might not be in the way during the examina- 
tion. The nose, throat, and windpipe were very 
carefully examined. Considerable quantities of a for- 
eign substance was discovered, which resembled dust, 
lodged on the mucous membrane of the air passages, 
and these surfaces were all in a state of inflammation. 
The question now arose in the mind of the writer 
whether it was possible for dust thus taken into the 
air passages to give rise to those fatal symptoms 
which had been witnessed in those that had died. 
But one experiment was not enough to settle this 
point even in his own mind, so a similar experiment 
was determined upon. 

A dry, dusty shed was selected for this second 
experiment. In this shed was placed a lot of hogs, 
and treated as the first had been treated. They were 
in every respect put in the same conditions as the 



CAUSES PRODUCING CHOLERA. 179 

SOW and pigs had been. The results were the same, 
though they did not die as rapidly as the pigs had 
done. The writer has tried hogs of all ages and con- 
ditions as to flesh, and the results have been the same 
invariably, though old hogs were less affected than 
young ones. At one time the writer had thirty shoats 
that had been raised with great care. They were 
pigged on plank floors, and had never bedded else- 
w^here. At all times great care had been taken to 
keep their beds clean and dry, by frequently throw- 
ing out the old beds and giving them a fresh supply 
of clean straw, and sweeping out the dust. They 
were in the very best possible condition. Early in 
the spring they were taken out of their pen and put 
where they could bed in dust, and were suffered to 
remain there about four months. When the weather 
got warm they began to die; the most of them died 
just as they lay down to rest on their bellies. They 
did not appear to have moved after lying down, and 
must have died without a struggle. A few of this 
lot escaped, and were fattened and killed; but, al- 
though they got fat, when slaughtered the lungs and 
liver showed unmistakable evidences of disease. 

About the 1st of May a lot of about thirty pigs 
were allowed to bed where they chose. The sows 
selected their beds, and all seemed to be doing well. 
Before the pigs were weaned the weather became 



180 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

very warm and dry, and they bedded under some 
shade-trees, near where they were fed, and wallow^ed 
in the dust much of the time. One day a neigh- 
bor passing by remarked, "You have a fine lot 
of pigs." We answ^ered, Yes, but that they would 
have cholera shortly. He seemed surprised, and 
said they seemed so thrifty and fine-looking, he 
thought we would certainly be mistaken. We re- 
marked that they were already diseased, and would 
show symptoms of it very soon, and that the disease 
would be fully developed by the time cold weather 
began. On the approach of cold weather they began 
to wheeze and cough, and most of them had thumps. 
After several of them had died, the rest were put 
in pens with plank floors, so arranged as to serve for 
bedding and feeding. 

Almost every medicine reputed to cure "hog 
cholera" w-as given, but without benefit. It was now 
determined to try strict attention to the preparation 
of their food. Corn-meal and wheat-bran, equal parts, 
were well cooked, and a little salt and wood-ashes 
added to the food thus cooked. Charcoal w^as kept 
by them, so that they might use it at pleasure. In 
a few days after this treatment was commenced they 
began to improve, and in a short time not a trace of the 
disease was observable, except in one animal. This 
one grew as rapidly as any of them, and looked as 



CAUSES PRODUCING CHOLERA. 181 

well as any of the lot, but breathed with some diffi- 
culty. This one was fed the next fall, and took on 
fat as well as the rest, but still breathed badly. 
During the first severe cold weather they were fed 
in the morning as usual, and nothing unusual was 
noticed; but in about twenty minutes the writer's 
attention was arrested by a noise among the herd, 
and on investigation he found the hog that had all 
along breathed so badly was down and struggling, 
and in a dying condition. He took his pocket-knife 
and bled the hog, and after he was dead took off the 
hide, and took out the bowels, lungs, and liver, and 
proceeded to examine them. 

The stomach and bowels were healthy, as might 
have been expected. The lungs seemed swollen, and 
had a red appearance on the outside, and on being 
cut into a number of abscesses, some of them very 
small, others as large as a hen's egg or larger, were 
seen. The rest of the lung was filled with clotted 
blood, mixed with a frothy, sticky mucus, or 7nucO' 
purulent matter. 

The liver was also larger than natural, and abscesses 
were found through the substance of the organ, and 
also hardened spots or lumps. Now it will be ob- 
served that though this hog was diseased, yet he got 
fat, and the inference is plain enough that the disease 
was still lurking in him ; and this is true of thousands 



182 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

of fat hogs that have died in the fattening pens. To 
show how rapidly and well this hog had taken on fat, 
it will only be necessary to state that thirteen gallons 
of white, beautiful lard was obtained from his body. 
This lard could have easily been sold in the market 
as a No. 1 article. 

A neighbor of mine was noted for his "good luck" 
in hog raising, and had never been troubled with 
cholera. Some time in the month of August his 
hogs began to show signs of disease. One of the 
first signs noticed was lameness, and tumors on the 
legs ; this was followed by dullness and loss of appe- 
tite, and in a few days from the time the disease was 
first noticed the hogs thus affected died. After some 
eight or ten had died, the v>^riter was passing and was 
requested to examine the herd, for there were sev- 
eral of them sick at the time. Upon inquiry into 
the history of their management, he was told that 
they had been in the habit of sleeping and wallow- 
ing under a large crib, which stood high enough 
from the ground to allow them easy access. There 
was an abundance of dry dust here, and the hogs 
had wallowed and slept under this crib much of the 
time during: the summer. The writer informed the 
owner that the cause of the disease was plain 
enough; they had contracted the disease in this 
dust; and advised that the entrance to this dusty 



CAUSES PRODUCING CHOLERA. 183 

bed be closed at once, and that the hogs be put 
where they could get plenty of pure, fresh water, 
and to give them kitchen slops, the surplus milk 
from the dairy, bran-mash, etc. This advice was 
carried out, and the result was that no more hogs 
got sick, and the sick ones that could eat at all 
got well. 

The owner of the next lot of hogs that are now to 
be mentioned had been greatly troubled with cholera 
among his hogs for a period of two years, from time^ 
to time. It was ascertained that his hogs were 
sometimes allowed to lie around the barn-yard, and 
sleep under the sheds, and at other times were 
turned out where they had no shelter or protection 
in any way. In order to get rid of this scourge he 
bought two sows and pigs, amounting to some eighteen 
or twenty; this was in the fall of the year. He 
put them where they had a run to grass, and beech 
and oak mast; in addition they were fed regularly 
twice a day. A good shed was prepared for them 
to bed under; this shed soon got dusty, and the sows 
and pigs slept and wallowed in it. Early in the 
spring they were attacked with cholera, and the pigs 
all died. 

Numerous observations might be recorded illus- 
trating this point, but the author will give only one 
more fact, which came under his notice several years 



184 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

ago, and which will at the same time show, as he has 
elsewhere intimated, that the disease in question had 
an existence many years ago, but was not then 
recognized. The circumstance about to be related 
occurred in the year 1843 or 1844. The writer 
raised a fine young sow, which at her first litter 
brought eight pigs ; they were farrowed some time in 
the month of June. Her bed was about one hundred 
and twenty yards from the house, in the margin of a 
piece of woodland. A lane ran from the woods 
through the farm; this lane served as a public high- 
way, and was much traveled at the time. About the 
time the pigs were old enough to follow the sow the 
weather became Axry hot and dry, and the dust be- 
came very deep. The sow always came up to the 
house to be fed. Upon returning to the house one 
day at noon, our surprise was very great to find sev- 
eral of the pigs dead, lying near the place where the 
sow was fed. From this point to the sow's bed the 
rest of the pigs were found, aU dead save one. This 
was certainly very strange and mysterious, at that 
time, to the writer. The surviving pig lived through 
the next winter, and kept fat enough, but did not 
grow to be large. Some time in the spring it was 
driven some two miles, after which it commenced 
purging, and died in a short time. The sow had 
no more pigs till some time during the next summer; 



CAUSES PRODUCING CHOLERA. 185 

this litter died at nearly the same age, and in the 
same way. Believing that something was wrong 
about the sow, she was fattened in the fall and 
killed. Not till his investigations into the cause of 
hog cholera has the author been able to explain the 
mystery of the taking off of these pigs. It is now 
to his mind all plain enough, and he risks nothing, as 
he believes, in affirming that in every case where 
hogs are placed in the conditions and circumstances 
above detailed, they will as certainly be attacked 
with the disease popularly known as hog cholera. 
Many farmers to whom these facts have been de- 
tailed, and who have been observing for themselves, 
have fully concurred with the author in his views. 
A careful and candid investigation is all that is de- 
manded; or, if any are still skeptical, let them repeat 
the experiments herein set forth for themselves. 
Let the hogs experimented on have plenty of dust to 
wallow in at pleasure, and let them sleep in dusty 
beds constantly, and you may feed them in any way, 
or on any kind of food, and sooner or later you will 
have hog cholera in abundance. The author chal- 
lenges any one who doubts to make the test for him- 
self. These things being true, how easy it will be 
to protect this valuable animal from the disease, and 
save millions of dollars annually to the country. 
But, in the second place, we will consider exposure 

16 



186 TREATISE ON THE HOG. ' 

as a cause of the disease. It will not be denied that 
exposure to cold, and particularly cold rains, and the 
sudden changes in the temperature in our Middle 
States from rain to snow, and even to severe freezing, 
which frequently happens, can not fail to produce 
disease. If the animal, as is too frequently the case, 
has little or may be no protection, but is left to 
shiver in the cold without shelter or bed, and often 
without sufficient food, certain results follow. What 
form of disease results from this sort of exposure? 
A few observations on this point will answer this 
question. 

It will be borne in mind that the hog is not suited 
by nature to stand the effect of a cold climate as well 
as a mild or warm climate. It has been shown that 
this fact, if known by hog-raisers, has certainly not 
been acted upon; in fact, in many places no protec- 
tion whatever is given them. In illustration of the 
effect of exposure to cold as a cause of disease, the 
author will here detail a circumstance which hap- 
pened his own herd. 

In the fall of the year 1866 his stock of hogs 
consisted of five young sows and thirty-odd ftill 
shoats or pigs. In order to save these through the 
winter he prepared an old out-house, which was well 
adapted to his purpose; it had a good, floor, and it 
was only necessary to cut off and plank up one 



CAUSES PRODUCING CHOLERA. 187 

corner of the house to contain their food, which 
consisted of corn. A good supply of straw was con- 
stantly furnished them for beds. The corn thus 
supplied them was not sound, for much of it had 
fallen down in the field, and became sour and par- 
tially decayed; but, as every one knows, this kind 
of food it is commonly expected that the stock hogs 
will consume. This defect in the treatment was, 
however, remedied by a run to grass and mast in a 
wood near by, and all the slops from the kitchen was 
given them three or four times a week. They kept 
in fine condition. About the first of February the 
writer was called away from home, to be gone ten or 
twelve days. Almost immediately after leaving 
home the weather turned exceedingly cold. On his 
return home he was informed that his hogs had 
cholera, that one sow had died and three others were 
sick, and that all the shoats were either sick or dead. 
Diligent inquiry was made in regard to the matter, 
and it was ascertained that when the weather turned 
cold they began to show signs of disease. On account 
of the severe cold, and the snow which covered the 
ground, they could no longer get the grass nor mast, 
and were fed exclusively on the kind of corn already 
spoken of, which had also become frozen. Upon 
noticing that they seemed to be in pain, their feet 
drawn under them, and breathing with difficulty, 



188 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

they had been turned out of the house and put into 
a lot where they had no shelter or protection from 
the biting winds, except some hay given them for 
beds. On the morning after my return but one of 
the sows was able to eat; the shoats were all dead, 
save six, and they were so near dead that all efforts 
were unavailing to save them. These hogs had 
never bedded on the ground; they were farrowed in 
the house, and were fed regularly. In addition to 
this they had grass and mast, and although they 
were fed on corn only partly sound, yet while the 
weather remained mild they were healthy; but when 
very severe weather set in, and they were deprived 
of the grass and mast, and were fed exclusively on 
the rotten corn, which had frozen, they became en- 
feebled and chilled, and were then in this condition 
turned out of their shelter, and the result was they 
were placed in the very best possible condition to 
take pneumonia or pleuro-pneumonia, which was act- 
ually the disease of which they died. 

To show how hogs are treated, and how they are 
exposed, the following communication from an old 
hog-raiser will show: 

'- Coles County, Illinois, May 6, 1867. 
"Mr. James A. Eeasor: 

"Dear Sir — Having learned that for several years 

you have been making examinations, experiments, 



CAUSES PRODUCING CHOLERA. 189 

and investigations of the cause and probable cure of 
the disease called 'hog cholera/ and that you intend 
giving the farmers and the public in general the 
benefit of your researches in the form of a book, I 
take the liberty of sending you a few lines from the 
hog-cholera regions of Illinois. 

"I propose to give you an outline of my observa- 
tions in regard to the treatment of the hog in this 
state, as it has come under my notice at various 
times during the last sixteen years. I also propose 
giving 3^ou a short history of my own experience in 
hog raising. 

"In the first place I would not have you think me 
a model hog-raiser; for I, in common with many 
others, had to make my farm and support my family 
at the same time; consequently had little time to 
give the matter that attention which its importance 
justly demanded. But, whether at home or abroad, I 
have always observed the hog more closely than any 
other kind of stock; for upon him I relied as the 
chief source of my income. Within the past few 
years, however, the hog has become so diseased that 
I was forced to turn my attention to something else. 

" It is a common practice in this country for farmers 
to make large ricks of straw in threshing time for 
the purpose of protecting their hogs, cattle, and other 
stock from storms, and for the cattle to feed on 



190 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

through the winter. By the time the hardest part 
of winter and the cold rains of early spring set in, 
the cattle have eaten away so much of the straw that 
the hogs have to bed in the wet, rotten straw and 
manure, or else make holes under the straw far 
enough back to be out of the reach of the cattle. 
When the latter is the case the hogs are deprived of 
pure air, and these holes become dusty; the conse- 
quence is, when spring opens, hogs thus treated come 
out of these holes and manure piles — if able to get 
out — drawn up, mangy, and generally affected Vvdth 
a cough and wheezing. Very frequently hogs are 
confined in a small lot around such straws-piles, and 
have no food during the entire winter, save dry corn 
and the droppings of the cattle. 

" Other farmers keep their hogs during the winter 
in a lot in the open prairie, without any bedding 
or shelter, and many times they are so black with 
the black mud common to this country that it is 
scarcely possible to distinguish the animal's true 
color. I have actually seen hogs come out of a hole 
of mud and water when the ground was frozen around 
them. When the bleak winds would strike them they 
were soon chilled, and had to bed on the frozen ground 
or return to their watery beds, if they (the beds) 
were not frozen up before they could get back to 
them. 



CAUSES PRODUCING CHOLERA. 191 

^^When lattening time comes it is a common prac- 
tice of farmers to confine their hogs in a lot and give 
them a wagon-load of corn. When the corn is con- 
sumed they are allowed to get squealing hungry 
before another load is thrown in to them. All sizes 
are fattened together, and when the largest are driven 
to market or killed the supply of corn is reduced, and 
the weather becomes more severe, and those remain- 
ing in the pen suffer greatly, and by spring many of 
them are dead. Those that survive require nearly the 
whole summer to regain what they have lost, and 
even then they are not worth as much as they were 
on the 1st of January before. Some farmers buy 
large numbers of stock hogs and cattle, and feed them 
in separate lots, and change them, so as to have the 
hogs follow the cattle. They are generally fed on 
corn cut and shocked in the fall, and hauled out of 
the fields and thrown down on the ground, and with- 
out husking the corn. In this way the hogs get some- 
thing for beds, the corn-stalks and shucks furnishing 
the material. This, among the large stock-growers, 
has been thought sufficient, and indeed the most 
successful manner of raising the hog. But allow me 
to give a little of my own experience with the hog. 

'• I generally let my hogs run till fattening time, 
and then, some week or so before putting them up to 
fatten, I was in the habit of feeding them morning 



192 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

and eveningj watered them well, and so gradually 
increased their food till they became fat, and generally 
had good luck. But finally, about the time the hog 
cholera broke out in this country, I had a fine lot of 
about fifty hogs. About fifteen were nice young 
sows that I calculated to keep as breeders. I had 
only one sow that had her second litter. There were 
some thirty or thirty-five that I intended to put into 
what we call the spring or June market. These hogs 
all run together, and I had gotten them through 
the winter, and they looked well. As the cholera 
had made its appearance in the neighborhood, I was 
advised to put my hogs up in order to keep them 
from catching the disease. I finally did as I was 
advised. I put them in the same lot in which they 
had been fed during the winter ; they bedded in the 
same beds that they had used during the winter, 
which was under a large straw-shed. I fed them 
with plenty of corn and they had abundance of 
water. On the 1st of April they would have weighed 
from two hundred to two hundred and fifty pounds 
each. After they had been confined thus for three or 
four weeks they began to be slow about getting out 
of their beds in the morning, and frequently coughed, 
and grew more and more delicate about eating, and 
some refused at last to eat at all, and in a few more 
d.iys they began to die. I doctored them with 



CAUSES PKODUCING CHOLERA. 193 

various things, but thirteen of them died in a short 
time. The sows began to bring forth before the 
right time ; only one of them raised her pigs to be a 
week old. Some, and in fact most, of the pigs came 
dead; some of them in a state of decay, and almost 
any way but the right way, except one old sow; she 
brought forth all right, and she and the pigs remained 
healthy. I saved a few of those that were diseased, 
but they never fattened like my hogs had done 
before. I afterward raised healthy hogs on the same 
farm and on the same ground. 

"Respectfully, Wm. B. Hawkins." 

In passing through an adjoining county the writer 
was requested by a gentleman to look at a lot of hogs 
that were at that time (January, 1866) suffering with 
cholera, as he supposed. This herd consisted of about 
sixty; they were, as our friend told us, in fine con- 
dition up to the time they were taken sick. They 
had been well cared for, and were allowed to run in 
a lot with a lot of mules that were being fed, in order 
to eat the droppings from the mules, and where they 
could have good beds and shelter. Some time in 
January mules and hogs were turned into a field 
where there was no shelter for the hogs except an 
oM straw-stack, partly beaten and trampled down 

and partly decayed. The hogs at once resorted to 

17 



194 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

this old straw for beds and shelter. In a few days 
after being put into the field the weather turned very 
cold, and continued so for some weeks. In eight or 
ten days after the change in the weather all this lot 
of hogs, consisting of sixty, were attacked with 
cholera, except six or eight. They refused food, 
coughed, had difficulty of breathing, and some of 
them had thumps, and all that were attacked died in 
a few days. Many similar cases could be given 
equally striking and conclusive. Now it often hap- 
pens that the effects just recorded do not produce 
such speedy results, but for weeks, it may be, the 
disease has been creeping on so imperceptibly that 
it may be overlooked till the more Adolent symptoms 
appear. But to one accustomed to notice closely the 
actions and habits of his herd, it will be seen that the 
animal loses energy, and has cough, and some of them 
thumps, and they refuse food, and are thirsty. These 
symptoms precede the final and fatal termination. 

Many of the cases brought on by exposure linger 
along till warm weather, and finally get well; but 
great numbers of them have the disease re-awakened 
by contact with the dust and heat of summer, and 
are speedily destroyed. 

There can be no question that hogs that have had 
good beds, proper food, and sufficient protection 
through the winter are better able to resist both the 



CAUSES PRODUCING CHOLERA. 195 

influence of cold and keep in better condition than 
those that have been deprived of them. 

It is scarcely necessary to attempt to show thai 
hogs given all necessary protection during the wintei 
will in every respect be better off, even though both 
may be fed precisely alike. They will also be less 
liable to disease of any kind than those that have 
been exposed to the inclemencies of a severe winter, 
and this is particularly true of young hogs and pigs. 
It happens often that animals apparentlt/ get well 
after suffering a long time. And this brings us to 
consider, in the third and last place, the transmissi- 
hility of the disease. 

It has already been intimated that this disease 
may be propagated by diseased parents. It often 
happens that the sow or boar has had cholera, and 
apparently get well, and are kept as breeders ; and as 
certainly as this is done their offspring are much more 
liable to the disease than the offspring of those that 
have never had it. It has been clearly demonstrated 
that hogs are occasionally the subjects of tubercular 
disease, and in many of the animals examined by the 
author tubercles were found in the lungs and liver; 
and in cases of this kind their history shows that 
they had lingered for a considerable time before 
dying. Now nothing is more certainly known than 
that this disease in the human subject is communicated 



196 . TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

from father or mother to the children, and such is 
also the case with this class of the lower animals. 
The author has given this matter careful and earnest 
attention, and has been fully convinced that the off- 
spring of these diseased animals are born with the 
seeds of the disease in them, and being exposed to 
the causes already treated of in full, have fallen easy 
victims. He would not pretend to say what per- 
centage of deaths are traceable directly to this cause, 
but is perfectly certain that it is very considerable. 
The case reported by Dr. W. M. Allen, to which 
attention is particularly called, will illustrate this 
point. Now pigs begotten of such an animal, it is 
easy to see, must of necessity have feeble constitu- 
tions, and when exposed to the inclemencies of the 
winter, without adequate protection, or inhaling the 
dust in the heat of summer, will speedily become dis- 
eased, and this class will generally all die. The pigs 
of diseased parents begin to show disease in a very 
few days after birth, as a general rule, but may get 
to be from one to three or four weeks old before 
giving evidence of the presence of the malady. 
They frequently show a want of plumpness, seem 
feeble, and do not grow rapidly; and indeed so 
feeble are some of them that they live but a short 
time, and die from inanition, or want of the powers of 
life, and because they can not digest and appropriate 



CAUSES PKODUCING CHOLERA. 197 

the nourishment taken; in short, die from starvation, 
although the mother may have a sufficiency of milk. 
These cases are numerous, and it is a fact that a vast 
majority of hogs that die of cholera die while pigs, or 
before they come to maturity, or perhaps it would 
be more correct to say before they are old enough to 
be fattened. Even in hogs that have become fat 
these tubercles are occasionally seen, or evidence of 
having existed. Evidence of this is found in the 
fact that scar-like or hardened places are found in 
the lungs after death. The author asks especial at- 
tention to the foregoing facts, as he considers them 
of much importance in the attainment of the great 
object — viz., of preventing the disease. 

In conclusion of what he has to say on this branch 
of the subject, the author wishes to add that not un- 
freqaently the three principal causes — viz., inhalation 
of dust ^ exposure to cold^ and hereditary predisposition — 
combine to produce the disease. One of these causes 
may lie dormant, and never produce an outbreak of 
the disease. It is easy to understand how, if pigs 
inherit disease from their parents, that the other two 
may act as exciting causes, and thus light up the 
disease which already lurks in them. Too much 
stress, therefore, can not be given to the importance 
of selecting none hut those that have never had the dis- 
ease as breeders^ and this applies to both male and 



198 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

female. The author firmly believes that if this rule 
is fully carried out, hog cholera would to a great 
degree be prevented, if not eradicated. It must not 
be understood, however, that this alone would pre- 
vent the disease, but that the observance of the 
above rule, in connection with proper protection 
during the winter and early spring, and avoidance 
of dusty pens and beds in summer, can not fail to 
prevent the disease, and produce healthy, robust 
animals. 



TREATMENT OF CHOLERA. 199 



CHAPTER XIII. 

TREATMENT OF CHOLERA. 

Prevention better than cure — Early attention important — Feeding — 
Watering — Bedding — Medical treatment — Recipes. 

It will be borne in mind by the reader that the 
author lays but little stress on the medical treatment 
of hog cholera. His main object is to point out how 
the disease may be prevented more than how it may 
be cured, though much may be done to cure the 
animal after the disease has made considerable head- 
way. When the animal has the disease in its worst 
form, but little can be done for them in the way of 
medication. It may be truly said that medicines are 
of but little use unless it be of a kind that the hog 
will readily take in his food or drink; for when he 
has to be forced to take it, it will be found to be a 
very difficult matter, and next to impossible to do it. 
The author is convinced that great mischief has been 
done by patent-medicine venders, who, without any 
practical knowledge of the disease, and indeed of 
the nature and habits of the hog, or of the remedies 



200 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

or rather drugs he employs, dupes the too credulous 
farmer into the belief that he has a specific "which 
has never been known to fail to cure any case, how- 
ever bad." These medicines are too often relied 
upon, and attention to the hygiene of the hog is neg- 
lected. Thus thousands of hogs die as well from 
the medicine as from neglect. The most absurd 
compounds have been palmed off on the farmer, each 
having its day, doing its mischief, and passing away. 

The important matter in the treatment of this ter- 
rible malady is to study it, so as to be able to detect 
it in its very first signs, and before it has taken deep 
hold upon its victim. When the first symptoms are 
discovered, it will often be an easy matter to arrest 
the disease. In fact, if the causes already detailed 
are the true ones, such measures may be taken as 
will prevent it. 

The first and most important matter to be attended 
to is the proper treatment and management of the 
herd. In the first place, do not allow them to wal- 
low and sleep in dusty places. This, as we have 
tried to show, is the main cause of the disease in 
numerous cases. If they are allowed to sleep under 
sheds, around the barn or stables or out-houses, or in 
old decaying straw-stacks, or in heaps of stable re- 
fuse, they will be almost certainly diseased sooner 
or later. The disease may remain latent for some 



TREATMENT OF CHOLERA. 201 

time, or it may be the symptoms appear so trivial as 
to give rise to no suspicion of its presence; but upon 
exposure to a suddenly cold spell of weather the 
disease is developed, and death swiftly follows. Let 
the reader make himself thoroughly familiar with 
the symptoms, and particularly, as we have already 
insisted, the very first symptoms of the disease, and 
when it is ascertained that your herd is suffering, 
go at once into a thorough investigation of all the 
surroundings, and if any of the causes already fully 
given should be present, set about at once to remove 
it, for in doing so the difficulty will in great measure 
be removed. 

1. See if their beds and wallowing-places are dusty. 

2. See if they have adequate protection from the 
cold rains, snows, and winds. 

3. See that their food is of the proper quality and 
quantity. 

4. See that they have an abundance of pure water. 

5. See that they are not crowded together in too 
great numbers. 

6. See that they have no lice; or if so, destroy 
them at once. 

7. Give attention to removing the diseased ones 
from among those that are healthy; not on account 
of contagion, but that they may receive special at- 
tention. 



202 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

It will be a comparatively easy matter, by careful 
attention to the foregoing items, to save your herds 
from the worst form of the disease. 

The author can not refrain from quoting the very 
sensible and practical suggestions of Mr. H. C. Smith, 
of Ridge Farm, Vermilion County, Illinois, delivered 
before the State Agricultural Society of Ohio. Mr. 
Smith says: 

" In the treatment of the diseases of the hog I con- 
sidered the old proverb especially true — ^An ounce 
of prevention is worth a pound of cure' — because in 
almost all cases where a hog is once diseased to any 
considerable extent the cure is worth more than the 
cured hog. This being the case, it is important that 
we take especial care to prevent disease among our 
swine. The hog, if properly treated, is perhaps the 
least liable to disease of any of our domesticated 
animals, and his wants are few and simple, but from 
the nature of his habits his few wants are imperative. 

"The disease known as cholera, which has made 
such havoc among our herds for the past few years, 
is undoubtedly caused by the filthy and careless 
manner in which we treat our hogs. We have been 
driving them to it for years. Each successive gen- 
eration continued to have its vitality played upon, 
and its constitution to grow weaker and weaker by 
continual abuses, until it finally culminated in a dis- 



TREATMENT OF CHOLERA. 203 

ease that carried off hundreds and thousands of the 
poor creatures, and thus relieved them from the 
misery and curse of neglect of their careless owners, 
and perhaps saved hundreds of human beings from 
destruction by the use of pork contaminated by cor- 
ruption and disease. Our only remedy is in a radical 
change in the care of our hogs. By suddenly changing 
from scant fare of grass, roots, and such other rub- 
bish as the hog can gjather up in the streets and 
lanes, to high feeding of corn or still-slops, the dor- 
mant stomach and digestive organs are overtaxed, 
the food lies undigested in the stomach until it sours 
and ferments, which produces constipation and irri- 
tation throughout the whole digestive apparatus, and 
by its long continuance the whole system is impreg- 
nated with fever and disease. After the disease has 
far advanced, to attempt a cure will be impossible. 
After a hog has lost his appetite it is very trouble- 
some to administer medicines to him; but by taking 
it in time, while he will still eat, and give him some 
slight purgative and some neutralizing substance, with 
moderate food of a green, succulent nature, and pure 
air and free exercise, he will most likely recover. 

"1 have never had a case of the cholera among 
my hogs, although it has been in adjoining pastures 
frequently. My plan of preventing it is, during the 
grass season, to allow my hogs plenty of grass, feed 



204 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

regular, and when I want to raise the feed do it 
gradually; give my hogs plenty of salt, which stim- 
ulates the digestive organs, and allow them free 
access to stone-coal, of which they consume large 
quantities, and the salt and coal neutralize any acid- 
ity that may be created in the stomach before it has 
time to affect the system." 

Thus it will be seen by a little judicious care in 
the management of the hog the disease may be 
wholly prevented. Mr. Smith's hogs did not have 
the disease, although hogs in adjoining fields had it. 
The above facts can not be too forcibly impressed 
upon the minds of our farmers and raisers of hogs. 
Indeed it may be observed with truth that no man is 
fit to raise animals of any kind unless he first learns 
how to manage them, both in health and disease. 

Now, if the reader will carefully examine the re- 
ports so carefully and accurately made by the Illinois 
physicians, and that of Dr. W. M. Allen, of Jefferson 
County, Kentucky, and those of the author, the con- 
clusion will be inevitable that no medical treatment 
can cure hogs thus diseased. They may appear to 
get well, yet it is questionable whether their flesh is 
ever fit for food, and for the good of humanity ought 
to be given to the soap-boiler. 

Every hog-raiser should make a habit of inspecting 
his hogs daily. In this way he will be able to see 



TREATMENT OF CHOLERA. 205 

any departure from health, and be thus able at once 
to go to work to relieve them; or if he sees existing 
those causes which we have so plainly laid down, he 
can at once set about removing them before his herd 
has been affected by them. 

Now let us suppose that you have given attention 
to the matters above detailed, and that upon careful 
inspection you have discovered that some of your 
herd have lost their appetite ; they do not respond to 
your call as usual; they seem languid; they are 
hacking and coughing; they breathe more quickly 
than natural, and they wheeze, and have thumping 
of the flanks. These symptoms will indicate to you 
that you have no time to lose if you would save your 
herd. You ought at once to remove the herd from 
dust, if in the summer, to a place where they can 
get pure, fresh water; if in the winter, to a place 
where they will be protected from the cold, and 
where they can have good, warm beds; and they 
should be given w^arm slops made of wheat-bran or 
meal, or these two mixed and thoroughly cooked. 
They should be allowed plenty of salt, and an abun- 
dance of stone-coal or charcoal, of which they will 
often eat greedily. At the same time they should 
have a good supply of water, for they are generally 
thirsty. If the dairy furnishes plenty of milk let 
them have all that can be given them, for they must 



206 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

be sustained, and if this can not be done death is in- 
evitable. Let nitrate of potash, an ounce to the 
gallon, be dissolved in the slops or water, and compel 
them to eat or drink it before they are allowed any 
more. They should not be allowed to crowd together 
in large numbers, and their pens or houses should be 
well ventilated, and they should be so arranged as to 
carry off the urine. If these matters are promptly 
attended to, a few days, and sometimes a fcAv hours, 
will suffice to show an improvement in their con- 
dition. 

In order to present this matter plainly, so that 
there can be no possibility of being mistaken, let us 
present the matter in a little different form. When 
the early symptoms, the importance of which we 
have tried to impress, begin to show themselves, 
the question will of necessity arise. What can have 
caused the disease? And we will suppose a farmer 
making the inquiry. Now we propose to ask him a 
few questions, which it is believed will assist him to 
a conclusion. 

1. Upon what have your hogs been fed? 
"Nothing but corn." 

2. Was the corn sound? 

"No, not exactly. I fed the nubbins and imper- 
fect corn, and in fact much of it was sour and rotten, 
but I thought it would not do to lose it." 



TREATMENT OF CHOLERA. 207 

3. Did your hogs have good, warm beds, and a 
house or shed to protect them from the cold? 

"Certainly not. They were allowed the liberty 
of the field and the barn-yard, and made their beds 
where they chose." 

4. Did they often make their beds in the old 
straw-stacks, and about the stables in the manure- 
heaps ? 

"Yes; they seemed to prefer such places for their 
beds, and I thought they were comfortable, and so 
let them alone." 

5. Did you give them plenty of salt, and feed 
them regularly? 

"Well, no. I sometimes forgot to salt them, and 
when the Aveather was very disagreeable, they were 
occasionally forgotten." 

6. How Avas it in the summer? Had they a run 
to grass and water, or were they confined to dry, 
dusty roads, fields, or sheds ? 

"Well, my grass was rather poor, and they got 
but little; and water was rather scarce, and they 
sometimes actually suffered for the want of it; but it 
required much trouble to furnish them good, pure 
w^ater, so I had to allow them to run to a very filthy 
pond." 

7. Did your hogs have cholera last year ? 
"Yes, but I saved enough for breeders." 



208 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

8. Did the parents of this herd, both boar and 
sowSj have the disease? 

"Yes; and the boar never seemed perfectly well, 
and after a while dwindled away and died. The sows 
seemed to have fully recovered." 

Any one who has seen how the hog is managed will 
acknowledge the justice of the above, and in some 
cases the truth is by no means all told. Can any one 
be astonished that hogs should die of cholera thus 
treated? Can any one doubt, after what has been 
stated in regard to the causes producing cholera, that 
if these causes should be removed, which it will be 
seen can easily be done, that the disease must of 
necessity disappear? We insist, nay, we pray the 
farmers and raisers of hogs to give the matter a trial. 

It is now proposed to be still more definite in 
regard to the means to be employed to prevent the 
disease. 

1. Every hog-raiser should have a good shelter for 
his hogs to protect them in winter and spring. The 
size of this house or shed should be in proportion to 
the number of hogs raised. This house should have 
a plank floor, so arranged as that it will at the same 
time serve the purpose of carrying off the dung, 
urine, and waste slops. It should be planked up 
high enough to protect the hogs from the cold winds, 
leaving space above sufficient to insure full and free 



TREATMENT OF CHOLERA. 209 

ventilation. In the winter the animals should be sup- 
plied with straw or other suitable material to make 
beds of. 

2. If lice infest the herd they should be destroyed. 
For this purpose take of sulphur or tobacco-juice and 
lard a sufficient quantity, mix well together, and with 
a mop or brush give the animals a good greasing. 
Make them move about the house and climb over 
each other; in this way the medicine will be thor- 
oughly applied in a very short time, and with very 
little trouble. This simple means has in our hands 
been sufficient to kill these vermin, and not only 
that, but also cure mange. This operation should be 
repeated as often as it is necessary to accomplish the 
object. The presence of these vermin not only act 
as an irritant to the skin, but also indicate a dis- 
eased or debilitated state of the system. 

3. The next thing to be attended to is the state of 
the bowels. In many cases there are worms in great 
numbers infesting the intestinal canal; these must 
be expelled, and such feed given as is best calculated 
to improve the general health of the animal. For 
this purpose a very simple and cheap, and at the 
same time efficient, remedy is the following: Take 
of corn-meal and wheat-bran equal parts, boil them 
together till thoroughly cooked, then add salt, soft- 
soap — made in the ordinary way from wood-ashes — 

18 



210 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

and powdered sulphur, and a little copperas (sulphate 
of iron), and mix the whole together by rapidly 
stirring them. Let this be the only food gwen them. 
This, if persevered in for a few days, will act upon 
the bowels, and if there are any worms they will be 
expelled. Charcoal in abundance should be given, as 
it will absorb the gases and correct any unhealthy 
secretion, and is an excellent disinfectant. If the 
charcoal can not be obtained, stone-coal will answer 
the purpose. If farmers will take the trouble to have 
the slops from the kitchen and dairy and the suds 
from the wash-house put into a vessel, and to this 
add a little meal or bran, and some wood-ashes or 
soda, and give this to his hogs two or three times a 
week, it will be found an excellent addition to the 
means already suggested. By attention to the above 
suggestions the bowels will be kept regular, the 
digestion improved, and the general health of the 
hog invigorated. 

But in order to make this branch of the subject as 
complete as possible, we propose giving some space 
to the views of several writers on this matter of 
treatment, but do not wish to be understood as in- 
dorsing their views or the recipes given, except 
when the fact is mentioned. 

As a preventive. Dr. J. Wallace, in the "Prairie 
Farmer" for July, 1859, advises giving from five to 



TREATMENT OF CHOLERA. 211 

ten grains of calomel to each hog two or three times 
a week during the prevalence of the disease. The 
reason for the use of this remedy does not seem very 
plain to the writer of this. 

A writer in the "Country Gentleman" has found a 
drench of alum-water very effective. 

Professor J. B. Tanner has communicated the fol- 
lowing cure, which he has found very effectual: 
ashes, 1 peck; salt, 4 lbs.; black antimony, 1 lb.; 
copperas, 7 lbs.; sulphur, 1 lb.; saltpeter, I lb. 
Pound these ingredients very fine, and mix them 
well, and keep some of it in a trough by itself, and 
each hog will eat what he needs of the medicine 
from day to day; if predisposed to cholera they w^ill 
eat it much more freely than if wholly well. If 
through any cause a hog gets down, pour down him, 
or in some way get him to drink, in slop, one gill of 
coal-oil per day. 

Another writer recommends cutting off the hog's 
tail, and giving him an injection of strong soap-suds. 
This last is almost absurd. 

A writer, of Winchester, Tennessee, believes that 
if the hogs can be kept free from lice they will not 
suffer from cholera, and he is convinced that sulphur 
given internally and rubbed on externally will cure 
them of the pests. He gives the following : Sulphur, 
two table-spoonfuls ; same quantity of sulphate of 



212 TREATISE ON THE liOG. 

iron (copperas) ; and one pint each of ashes and com- 
mon salt; mix them well, and give a small portion 
twice a week. In addition to this, bnrn their beds, 
so that the vermin may be destroyed. Keep them 
free from dust, etc. 

Arsenic, blue-stone (sulphate copper), and poke 
root have their advocates. These medicines are 
poisonous, and should be used with caution. Mad- 
der, black sulphuret of antimony, and nitrate of 
potash is a very common compound, and in some 
localities has gained much reputation. The alkalies 
in the form of potash and soda are used by almost 
every one, and indeed much good may be done by 
them. They act upon the skin and kidneys, correct 
acidity of the stomach and bowels, and in these 
several ways assist nature to throw off the poison m 
the blood. 

The following is a very good mixture, first sug- 
gested by Mr. R. A. Sherrard, of Ohio, and may be 
used with much benefit: Epsom salts, 1 lb. ;^ pow- 
dered sulphur, h lb.; powdered copperas, 2 lb.; 
tartarized antimony, 5 ounces. Mix all together, 
and give each affected hog one tea-spoonful once a 
day for a week, then leave off a week, and another 
week give the medicine, and so on alternately as 
long as may be necessary. This compound allays 
fever, and acts upon the bowels and skin, and relieves 



TREATMENT OF CHOLEIIA. 213 

infiainmation. Care should be taken in giving these 
medicines. It is best to begin with small doses, and 
gradually increase till the animal can bear the largest 
dose. Some authors advise bleeding. This might 
in some cases be of service in the early stage, but it 
is troublesome, and of questionable propriety. Let it 
he kept in mind that the all-important matter is to look 
to prevention, and not to medicines, if success tvoiild he 
looked for. 



21-i TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

DISEASED MEATS. 

Injurious to man — Effect upon dogs from eating it — How diseased meat 
may be detected — Cysticercus; how known; produce tape-worm in 
man. 

It is self-evident that the health of the individual 
depends greatly upon the quality of the food taken 
into the stomach, whether it be of animal or vege- 
table matter. There can be no question that imper- 
fect and decaying vegetable matter is injurious to 
health. Why may not diseased animal food also be 
deleterious? The author is aware that the opinion 
is entertained that animal food undergoing decompo- 
sition is not only not injurious to health, but is much 
more easy of digestion than the perfectly fresh, un- 
tainted flesh. It is the habit, particularly of the 
French, to allow fowls, game, etc., to become some- 
what tainted before cooking it, and it is contended 
that it is promotive of digestion, and consequently 
of health. Be this as it may, it is not the object to 
discuss the matter here. 



DISEASED MEATS. 215 

It is the purpose of the author to set forth, as 
clearly as he is able to do, the character and appear- 
ance of diseased meat. This, of course, must have 
existed before the death of the animal. Now it is 
certain that diseased vegetables often produce inju- 
rious effects — as, for example, spurred rye, or blasted 
rye — and it is believed to be equally true that dis- 
eased animal food will produce like results, and that 
this is especially true of the flesh of the hog. 

It is difficult to determine, for the want of a suffi- 
cient number and variety of experiments, what effect 
diseased flesh produces upon those who have eaten 
of it; this is a question for the medical profession to 
determine, and it is a matter worthy the attention of 
scientific men. Certain it is that few persons would 
be willing to eat diseased flesh if it were known to 
be such; and aside from the disgust necessarily cre- 
ated by such an act, none would be willing to run the 
risk of becoming diseased by it. It is certain that 
hogs are the subjects of tubercle^ or consumption; 
might there not be danger of introducing some of 
this tubercular matter into the system by eating the 
flesh of hogs aflected by this disease, and thus the 
blood become poisoned by the morbid material, and 
produce a disease similar to that of the diseased 
animal? 

Numerous cases of disease and even death have 



216 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

from time to time been reported from eating the flesh 
of hogs, and it is reasonable to suppose that om* low 
forms of fever and diseases depending upon a poison 
of the blood for their cause, such as erysipelas, car- 
buncle, etc., are due to eating diseased meat. So 
well convinced are the municipal authorities of many 
of the large cities of Europe of this fact, that scien- 
tific men are appointed whose duty it is to examine, 
as far as practicable, all meats brought to market, 
that diseased meats may be excluded -and guilty 
parties punished. But we are not v/ithout facts to 
sustain the views here entertained. The followinsc 
circumstance was furnished by a very intelligent 
farmer of Shelby County, Kentucky, and is perfectly 
reliable. Colonel J. Allen says : 

" The following fact may be of service to you : In 
the fall of the ye^ir 1858 Mr. Thomas Long, a well- 
known farmer of Shelby County, Kentucky, had a 
lot of fat hogs attacked with cholera, and many of 
them died. A few of the dead hogs were dressed 
and salted, and put away for soap-making. Some 
time in February, 1859, this meat was made into 
soap, except the muscle or lean part, which was 
thrown aside. Some dogs, six in number, ate heart- 
ily of it, and in forty-eight hours thereafter were all 
dead. No other cause could be found to account for 
the kilhng of these dogs, and the conclusion was 



DISEASED MEATS. 217 

that the eating of this diseased meat had caused 
their death." 

To the same effect, George Sutton, M. D., of 
Aurora, Indiana, in an able article on hog cholera, 
in the North American Medico-Chirurgical Review, 
May, 1858, says in regard to eating the flesh of hogs 
that had died of cholera : 

"I have also seen notices in the public papers in 

this state of persons supposed to have been made 

sick by eating this diseased meat. Independent of 

the disgust arising from the idea of eating flesh of 

diseased animals, what effect would this meat have 

on health? The following facts may probably be of 

some interest on this subject. A dog belonging to 

Mr. Wm. Rickets, of Aurora, was chained to the pens 

at the distillery, and fed on diseased meat. He 

continued healthy and grew fat until the sixth week, 

when he became unwell, vomited frequently a 

greenish-looking mucus, and died on the third day 

from the time he first showed symptoms of disease. 

Two more dogs, both belonging to Mr. Wolf Den- 

derline, of Aurora, were also chained near the pens 

and fed on diseased meat. One continued healthy 

until the fifth week, when he became unwell, refused 

to eat, vomited also a greenish fluid, had diarrhea, 

and died on the sixth day from the time he was 

taken unwell. The other dog continued well until 

19 



218 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

the fourth week, when he was attacked with vomit- 
ing — no diarrhea was observed — and on the third day 
after he died. Two more dogs, belonging to Mr. John 
Buffington, were chained at the pens and fed on dis- 
eased meat. One of them died in the third week, 
with similar symptoms to the first mentioned. The 
other became unwell in the fourth week. The owner, 
thinking that he was going to die, had him removed 
and fed on different food. He gradually recovered, 
though it was with difficulty that he could walk for 
more than a month afterward. 

"At first I was inclined to believe that the con- 
sumption of this meat would not be directly injmious, 
but from the effects which we have witnessed upon 
these dogs it appears highly probable that, used as 
an article of food, this meat may gradually produce 
in the human system diseases the source of which 
would scarcely be suspected." 

In view of the foregoing facts, would it not be wise 
to give attention to this matter? Certainly too little 
care has been exercised in regard to it. It becomes 
still more important in view of the fact that some 
farmers and butchers are not too conscientious to sell 
meat in the market which they know to have been 
diseased, simply for gain. The author is satisfied 
that much of the meat sold in our large cities is in- 
fected in some way or other with disease^ 



DISEASED MEATS. 219 

It must be remembered, as has been shown else- 
where in this volume, that hogs grow fat even while 
laboring under the effects of disease, and the butcher 
may not be aware of the fact that he is offering the 
flesh of a diseased hog for sale. Yet this fact may 
be known by an expert; not, however, in all cases, 
but in those cases most likely to do mischief. The 
reader is referred to the tenth and eleventh chapters 
of this work, and earnestly requested to read and 
study them carefully, in order to see how hogs may 
be and frequently are diseased, and yet grow fat. It 
is a matter of sorrow and surprise that animals thus 
diseased should be sold for food, and yet such is too 
often the case. Ignorance and greed are at the bot- 
tom of great mischief. 

There are certain qualities belonging to healthy 
meats which must first of all be understood before it 
can be determined that there is any departure from 
health. The following article from the British Medi- 
cal Journal, from the pen of Dr. Leathery, which is 
so clear and concise that the author believes he can 
not do better than to insert it in this place. 

"Dr. Leathery, who has had great special experi- 
ence during several years in the city of London, 
describes the following as the characters of good 
meat: 

"1. It is neither of a pale pink color nor of a deep 



220 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

purple tint; for the former is a sign of disease, and 
the latter indicates that the animal has not been 
slaughtered, but has died with the blood in it, or 
has suffered from acute fever. 

"2. It has a marbled appearance from the ramifi- 
cations of little veins of fat among the muscles. 

"3. It should be firm and elastic to the touch, and 
should scarcely moisten the fingers — bad meat being 
wet, and sodden, and flabby, with fat looking like 
jelly, or wet parchment. 

"4. It should have httle or no odor, and the odor 
should not be disagreeable; for diseased meat has a 
sickly, cadaverous smell, and sometimes a smell of 
physic. This is very discoverable when the meat is 
chopped up and drenched with warm water. 

"5. It should not shrink or waste much in cooking. 

"6. It should not run to water, or become very wet 
on standing for a day or so; but should, on the con- 
trary, dry upon the surface. 

"7. When dried at a temperature of 212°, or 
thereabout, it should not lose more than from seventy 
to seventy-four per cent, of its weight; whereas bad 
meat will often lose as much as eighty per cent. 

" Other properties of a more refined character will 
also serve for the recognition of bad meat, as that the 
juice of the flesh is alkaline, or neutral to test-paper, 
instead of being distinctly acid; and the muscular 



DISEASED MEATS. 221 

fiber, when examined under the microscope, is found 
to be sodden and ill-fed." 

Parasites are sometimes found in the flesh of fat 
hogs, particularly the muscles, such as the ''trichina 
spiralis' and the cysticercus cellulosce^ either of which, 
if taken into the stomach, will develop these animals, 
and thus the trichina disease and the tape-worm will 
be the result. The trichinse can not be detected by 
the naked eye in the muscles, or at least rarely so; 
occasionally, however, httle whitish spots may be 
seen by a sharp, experienced eye, and when so ob- 
served, the meat containing them ought to be rejected 
as food till the flesh is submitted to careful examina- 
tion by the microscope, by which means the matter 
is made certain. In the case of the cysticercus cellu- 
losce it is not very diflicult to detect their presence. 
Little round white sacs or cysts are observed in 
clusters; they are sufficiently large to be easily seen 
by the naked eye, and are found in the muscles 
between the fibers, and sometimes in great numbers. 
These sacs contain the animal, and when taken into 
the stomach are rapidly hatched, and are soon large 
enough to fasten their ugly heads into the walls of 
the bowels, and grow rapidly; hence doubtless origi- 
nate many cases of tape-worm in the human subject. 

In the early part of the year 1870 a very interest- 
ing case occurred in the city of Louisville, Kentucky. 



222 TREATISE ON THE HOG, 

The little white lumps were found in a fat hog sold by 
a farmer to a dealer in the city, and he (the dealer) 
sold the hog to a green-grocer, to be again sold to 
the consumers. When, however, the little white sacs 
were seen, a panic was created under the belief that 
it was trichinous pork. The following account of the 
matter will show the facts in the case : 

" The hog, to all outward appearances, was perfectly 
healthy, the fat clear and white, and the lean firm 
and of a healthy color. Upon cutting into the lean 
portions of the meat hundreds of small cysts or cells 
were found, containing a semi-transparent fluid, in 
the center of which was a white, pearly-looking cell, 
which, upon being opened, revealed, with the aid of 
a microscope, what was thought to be the dreaded 
trichina spiralis in countless numbers. 

"A piece of the meat was submitted to Professor 
Jenkins, who, after a most careful examination, makes 
the following report: 

"Louisville, January 24, 1870. 
"Messrs. H. Wedekind & Co.: 

"I have examined two specimens of pork which 
you left with me on Saturday last. 

" The piece which you designated as being a por- 
tion of a hog sold to Mr. Miles, on Twenty-sixth 
Street, I find to be good in every respect. 

"The other piece, which you stated was a part of 



DISEASED MEATS. 223 

the animal sold to a green-grocer, on Market Street, 
between Eleventh and Twelfth, is not good. The 
muscular parts are filled with innumerable parasites, 
characteristic of one form of ^measly pork.' These 
parasites are known by the term cysticercus cellulosce, 
a being which, in its last and perfect stage of exist- 
ence, is the tcenia solium or tape-worm. 

^'This parasite in the state of cysticercus cellulosce 
Qoes not generally give rise to much inconvenience 
to the animal infested with it, except it gets into 
the muscular structure of the heart; the voluntary 
muscles of the whole body may be filled with them, 
and no external appearances or symptoms will indi- 
cate their presence. But when flesh so infested is 
swallow^ed in a raw or partially-cooked state, the 
animal into whose stomach such meat is taken will 
surely be infested with a colony of tape-worms. For 
this reason such meat as this is extremely dangerous 
in a community where thorough cooking is not the 
universal rule, since a living cysticercus cell is sure to 
be developed into a tape-worm when it reaches the 
stomach of a warm-blooded animal, especially of man. 
There is but one safeguard against them with pork- 
eaters — that is thorough cooking of every species of 
food into which pork enters. 

"In reply to your query as to the presence of 
trichina in this pork, I have to say that, after a very 



224 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

close and lengthy microscopical investigation of vari- 
ous portions of the meat, I have found none, and, 
according to authorities on this subject, where they 
occur at all they occur in vast numbers. I therefore 
infer that there are none in this meat. 

"Yours respectfully, Thos. E. Jenkins, 

Chemist and Microscopist." * 

Thus, of course, if the appearances above given 
are noticed, no one in his senses would think of 
allowing such flesh to be eaten by his family. True, 
the results mentioned — viz., the development of tajpe- 
worm in the alimentary canal — may be prevented by 
"thorough cooking;' yet it must be regarded as 
hazardous even when thoroughly cooked, since a 
stray sac might find its way into the stomach 
which had not been killed by the cooking. 

Let it be treasured up in the mind of the reader 
that — 

1. If the flesh he is about to buy has a dark red 
or purple appearance, or when it has, in addition to 
this, a granulated look, it ought to be rejected. 

2. When the meat has an oily look and feel after 
cooking, it will be safest to reject it. 

3. If when cutting up the hog tumors and little 
abscesses are seen, it ought not to be eaten. 

* Louisville Courier-Journal. 



DISEASED MEATS. 225 

4. If the flesh is alkaline or neutral to test-paper, 
instead of being distinctly acid, it would be best to 
let it alone. 

5. If the purchaser should have an opportunity 
of examining the lungs of the slaughtered animal, 
and should find lumps, or tubercles, or ulcers, or 
cavities, reject such pork. 

6. "Measly pork," which is very unhealthy, may 
be known by observing purple spots or eruptions on 
the skin, which are plainly visible. They impart a 
peculiar appearance to the grain of the meat, with 
fading of its color and distension of the fiber, so as 
to give the appearance similar to that which might 
be produced by puncturing the flesh. 

Finally, let all meats, especially hog meat, be com- 
pletely and thoroughly cooked before eating it, for 
even with the greatest care you may fail to detect dis- 
ease, and may fail to detect the parasites mentioned, 
and it may be that thorough cooking may destroy all 
deleterious qualities; at all events it is the only 
thing that can in any way do it. 

The author is satisfied that altogether too little at- 
tention has hitherto been given to this important mat- 
ter; and that, in consequence of ignorance in regard 
to the matters contained in this chapter, many cases of 
disease and death have resulted. The writer believes 
that in all our large cities in particular, skillful men, 



226 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

men of science, should be employed to give their 
entire attention to the examination of meats offered 
in the markets for sale, and especially should this be 
done for the benefit of the poor class, who are often 
compelled to buy inferior, cheap meats, and who are 
much more likely to be imposed upon than the rich. 
The author feels that if his suggestions serve to 
awaken an interest in the subject which shall lead to 
a thorough investigation of it, that it must result in 
good to all concerned. 



% 



TKICHINA SPIRALIS. 227 



CHAPTEE XV. 

TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 

Its history — Its effect upon animals and man — Where found — Its propa- 
gation. 

Within a few years past this little parasite has 
demanded and received much attention both in this 
country and Europe, particularly in Germany, where 
trichinous swine's flesh, eaten in a partially-cooked or 
raw state, caused the death of many persons. Long 
before this, however, microscopists had discovered 
and accurately described them. 

Thirty years ago Hilton, an English anatomist, 
discovered them. Hilton seems to have been the 
first to investigate them. He supposed them to be 
animal structures, but did not at once recognize the 
worm they contained. 

In 1835 the celebrated zoologist Owen described 
this worm, and gave it the name trichina spiralis. 
This name was given it in consequence of its body 
being small as a hair and curled up spirally. A 



228 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

number of other observers in England, France, Ger- 
many, Denmark, and America announced the fact that 
the capsules or little white bodies seen in the muscles 
of animals contained trichina. In animals the ob- 
served cases were very few. They were found in 
the cat, crows, blackbirds, hawks, and other birds, 
as well as in moles and pigs. (Yirchow.) 

It must be remembered that the trichina is ex- 
ceedingly minute. "If we bring," says Yirchow, 
"the trichina, the body of which is curled up, and 
therefore occupying its least space, in a drop of water 
on a plate of glass, and place this on a black surface, 
we see a whitish point; more can not be seen, and 
therefore it is impossible to recognize that this point 
is an animal." 

Frequently the animal in the muscle is inclosed in 
a peculiar capsule, a kind of sac without opening, 
a so-called cyst. This capsule has frequently a con- 
siderable size and thickness. So long as it is tender 
and not fully developed, the naked eye can scarcely 
see it. If it becomes more developed, and increases 
in density and thickness, and lime-salts are deposited 
in it, it presents more obstacles to the transmission 
of light, becomes opaque, and appears as a small, 
whitish body. 

Although observers disagreed among themselves 
whether the capsule which envelops the animal is, 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 229 

either mostly or in part, a part of the animal, it was 
taken for granted to consider the whole as one, and 
pronounce only such meat as containing trichina in 
which the whitish bodies could be observed with the 
naked eye. This conception could only be correct 
provided that the capsule was an egg-shell, for if the 
animals had developed from eggs in the spot where 
they were found, of course the capsule must have 
existed from the beginning. This was, however, in 
a high degree improbable. Later it has been ascer- 
tained by a more special investigation that there is 
no question of an egg in the case. 

With the certainty of this fact, the capsule of 
course has another significance. Either it was a 
secretion, a product of the animal, or a formation 
from the part of the human body in which the 
animal lodges. There was in its history a time when 
there was no capsule, and the animal consequently 
was free. But nobody had previously seen them 
free in the human body. The first observation of 
this kind was made by Zencker, of Dresden, in a case 
of trichina disease which resulted in death, and 
which has since become of great importance. 

The following is quoted from Virchow's '^Life of 
the Trichina." 

"We now know that a considerable time, at least 
two months, is necessary to produce a complete 



230 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

capsule, and that any man or animal who lives so 
long that the trichina in them becomes inclosed are 
nearly past all danger. We may therefore safely say 
that all observations of trichina which up to the year 
1860 have been made were of cured cases. 

"It is therefore easy to understand that more and 
more the conviction spread that the trichina was a 
harmless animal — a mere curiosity. Practical phy- 
sicians ceased to have any interest in it, and left the 
anatomist and zoologist to pursue the subject as a 
purely scientific one. 

"Certainly, however, it has a great scientific in- 
terest, and to this circumstance it is due that in this 
case the old saying of the stone that the builders 
rejected, and which became the corner-stone, was 
exemplified. What was extraordinary was, where 
the trichina came from, and how it came into the 
muscles of living persons, as one could not discover I 
any facts which pointed to propagation, for there 
was neither found any young, eggs, nor developed 
genital organs. 

"Such cases had been easily disposed of not long 
ago by the theory that there existed a spontaneous 
generation (epigenesis, equivocal, or spontaneous gen- 
eration). Among the people generally, as well as a 
certain number of investigators, the opinion was still 
held that from certain substances, especially from 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 231 

excrementitious and putrid things, living animals es- 
pecially, vermin would arise. In this class was 
included the intestinal vermiculse, because it was 
not understood how they arose in the bodies of 
living animals, if they had not, as supposed, been 
created within them. Respecting the trichina this 
idea did not seem so far wrong, since they were to 
all appearance entirely sexless, and devoid of all 
qualities which the course of generation presup- 
poses. In addition is the circumstance that they are 
found in immense numbers, for in some cases millions 
of trichina are found in a single person. Such a 
number of any other kind of the intestinal entozoa 
have never been found in any one person. Was it 
not supposable that the trichina arose from some 
impurity in the system ? 

"The trichina in these relations resembles certain 
worms, especially the cysticercus, which are frequent 
in pigs, and are also found in men. The cysticercus 
was different from the trichina in this ; viz., that 
they are much larger, for the trichina, even if the 
capsules be included, form only a small, white point 
or thin line. The cysticercus attains the size of a 
pea, and sometimes of a small cherry or bean. To 
mistake one for the other is not possible even for the 
inexperienced. The cysticercii are also sexless; they 
have no eggs, and are often found in great numbers. 



232 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

They are inclosed in the flesh, and are in many 
respects like the trichina, and even their origin by 
spontaneous generation seemed the most probable. 
The best investigators of the last century, especially 
the distinguished Pastor Goetze, of Quedlinburg, 
noticed that the cysticercus had a great likeness of 
structure with the head of the tape-worm, and these 
investigators had the two in one genus, that of the 
teniae. Still they considered them to be species of 
the same genus, Avhich compared with each other as 
donkey and horse, dog and wolf. 

"Only further investigations of recent times led to 
the idea that the relation of these was nearer, and 
that the cysticercus was a real tape-worm, developed 
under different conditions from the latter. But the 
immediate experience of Kuchenmeister, from actual 
experiment, showed that this conjecture was not 
wholly true. He found that the cysticercus of the 
muscle when it is eaten develops in the intestine to 
a tape-worm. It has therefore lived for a time in the 
state of the cysticercus, and subsequently assumes 
that of the tape-worm. 

" The question is how the worm came into the first 
state and into the muscle. In its tape-worm state it 
produces on its posterior extremity, by growth and 
casting off, new beings, of which each of itself not 
only contains eggs, but even produces living young. 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 233 

These, however, leave the egg state only after they 
have been discharged from the intestine, and thus, 
either by eating or drinking, are taken into the body. 

"As soon as they enter the stomach the shell 
opens, and the young, then microscopic, animals are 
freed, pierce the intestinal wall, and by active and 
passive movements reach different parts of the body, 
and there develop into cysticercii. This is a long 
and in a great degree chance development. The 
cysticercus is first eaten with the meat containing it, 
before it changes into a tape-worm, and from this in 
its single parts is generated eggs, and these must 
again be taken into the system to become embodied 
in the flesh and developed into a new being. It 
therefore not only changes location several times, 
but a change of generation also takes place, for 
every member of the tape-worm is a representative 
of a different generation. 

"With these experiences the old doctrine of spon- 
taneous generation of the intestinal worms was shaken 
to its foundation. If even so large animals as the 
cysticercus are produced regularly from generation to 
generation from eggs, to reach by peculiar wanderings 
the muscle from the intestines, it was easy to suppose 
that something similar to this might take place in the 
case of the trichina. Certainty was only to be had 

by experiment. 

20 



284 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

"Herbst, in Goettingen, was the first to institute 
such experiments. He found that afterward animals 
which had been fed with meat containing trichina had i 
trichina in their muscles. His experiments, however, 
were defective. In the first place it was not thereby ^ 
determined that the trichina which had been fed were 
identical with those found in human beings. In the 
next place he had not been able to pursue the history 
of the case between the time when the trichina en- 
tered the stomach and that when they were found in 
the muscle. 

"Was there a change of generation? Were the tri- 
china in the intestine changed into another intestinal 
worm? Did they produce eggs? Or were the same 
trichina which had been eaten found in the muscle? 

"More experiments, with feeding especially, by 
Kuchenmeister had no result, but he supposed that 
the trichina changed in the intestine to another 
known intestinal worm, the tricocephalus, and that 
the former was the immature state of the latter. 

"This conjecture at first seemed to be confirmed A 
by Leuckhart, in Giessen, who had formerly found, 
after feeding trichina meat to mice, free trichina in 
the intestinal mucus. On the 28th of September, | 
1859, he communicated to the Parisian Academy an 
account that he had succeeded in producing tricoce- 
phal?e in great numbers from trichina. 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 235 

"I had at the same time arrived at another result. 
In a dog fed with trichina from a human body, which 
were encapsuled, I found, three and a half days after 
feeding, numerous free and full-grown trichina, which 
had attained to a perfect sexual development. I 
could distinguish male and female animals, and in 
the bodies of the latter I found numerous eggs and 
germ cells. 

"On the 1st of August, 1859, 1 made my first com- 
munication on the subject to the Medical Society 
in Berlin, and a more special communication in my 
archives. At that time I showed that the capsule in 
which the animal was found in the flesh was nothing 
else than a changed muscular fiber — a deteriorated 
primitive bundle, and therefore the animal had to 
enter the structure of the flesh. 

"These results have been verified by subsequent 
experiments of feeding, first by Leuckhart and my- 
self, and also by Claus and others. Especially the 
case, already mentioned, observed by Zencker in 
January, 1860, gave to Leuckhart, as well as to 
myself, new material for experiment. The former 
reported it in a large volume. I communicated my 
later experiences, first in a short account in my 
archives, and again in a longer communication to the 
Paris Academy. The main result of our experi- 
ments was that the muscle trichina (muskel-trichina) 



236 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

given in meat food changed in the intestine only in 
respect to growth (darm-trichina), and produces eggs 
and living young in itself, and that these living young, 
without leaving the animal, immediately pierce the 
intestinal wall, penetrate the body, and lodge es- 
pecially in the muscular fibers, and then become 
encapsuled, to remain there until they are eaten. 

"The case of the trichina is in one particular dif- 
ferent from that of the tape-worm and cysticercus. 
The former when fird eaten produces a new brood, 
which immediately penetrates the body. 

"The former need not be eaten twice, like the 
latter, to produce a new brood that penetrates the 
body; the danger is therefore much greater in the 
case of the former, for the latter never endanger life, 
while we know a number of cases in which death 
has been caused by trichina. In other respects the 
muscle trichina and the cysticercus resembled each 
other in the fact that not the same animal which is 
eaten penetrates the body, but the new brood gen- 
erated in the intestine enters the muscles. 

"After this general review of the development of 
our knowledge of the trichina, I will proceed to state 
the main particulars more precisely. 

"1. How do we recognize the trichina in the 
meat? In the first part of this treatise I have 
shown that though we can see an isolated worm 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 237 

under circumstances already mentioned, the trichina 
itself can not be seen in the meat with the naked 
eye, and that what we can so see are only the cap- 
sules. Let us therefore consider the latter. 

"After a young trichina has wormed into a mus- 
cular fiber, it moves on apparently for a certain 
distance. In this process it breaks the finer con- 
stituent parts of the fiber, and by this probably 
partly destroys the fiber. But there is no doubt 
that it even devours part of the fiber. It has a 
mouth, oesophagus, and intestines, and in the course 
of several weeks grows to thirty or more times its 
original size. Therefore it must take nourishment, 
and can not obtain this elsewhere than from the ele- 
ments which surround it. It attacks the muscular 
substance, and at the same time irritates the sur- 
rounding parts. To understand these efi'ects one has 
to bear in mind the construction of the muscles. 
Even for the naked eye, muscular flesh consists of 
small, parallel bundles of fibers, held together by a 
very filmy texture (bindegewebe) . Each fasciculus 
can be separated, by fine needles, into small bundles, 
and these again into fibrillse. Microscopically it is 
seen that even the single fiber is a structure. Out- 
wardly it has a structureless, cylindrical covering. 
Within this is the real flesh element, which consists 
of small granules, which are lengthwise in the form 



238 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

of minute fibers (primitive fibrillen) , and breadthwise 
in the form of minute disks (fleischscheiben). Be- 
tween them, at small distances, are certain parts with 
kernels, the so-called muscular bodies (muskelkor- 
perchen). With a strong magnifying power the 
single fiber shows itself as a very complex struc- 
ture, a bunch of small fibers (primitive fibillen) 
which are held together by a common covering, and 
this is the reason why German anatomists have given 
to the fiber the name of primitive bunch. 

^'The destructive effect of the trichina is mostly 
on the flesh stuff (fleischscheiben) ; viz., the primitive 
fibers and disks. These disappear within the fiber, 
and the latter shrinks in proportion. The irritating 
effect appears most on the covering, and on the mus- 
cular bodies, particularly the kernels, and most 
strongly on that part the animal occupies. The 
covering thickens, the kernels of the muscular bodies 
increase; these bodies also grow, and between them 
a heavier substance is deposited, and by and by a 
denser mass forms around the animal, in which can 
be seen the outer covering and the interior enlarge- 
ment. The more the animal grows the more it rolls 
up, curling in its extremities, and lies like a spiral 
coil. 

" Generally this spiral, in a certain part of its cir- 
cumference, immediately touches the covering, while 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 



239 






over and under this place lies the mass which pro- 
ceeds from the enlargement of the contents. Where 
they touch the capsule it is 
from the first thicker and 
less transparent. 

"These processes take ^ 
place mainly in the third 
or fifth week after their ^ 
emigration. From that Wm 
time the density of thegf/ 
capsule increases, but the||| 
inner part more so than|>B 
the covering. The middle p^l 
part of the capsule, where g) 
the coiled animal reposes, Hi 
under a moderate magni-Ji 
fying, appears as a clear, pB^ 
egg-shaped mass (observe ^^ 
the figure 1), in which the 
animal is distinctly visible. Figure i. 

Above and beneath this spot there are usually found 
two appendages, which appear darker by transmitted 
light, by reflected light appear whitish. These taper- 
ing appendages have rounded-ofP ends. Frequently 
they resemble in form the inner canthus of the eye. 
These appendages differ in length, and sometimes a 
similar difference in length exists likewise in the end 




240 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

of the same capsule. In some cases these appendages 
are entirely absent, and the capsules are either of a 
simple oval form, or rounded off at the corner, or are 
indented. 

^'The above changes require a lapse of months for 
their development. If such meat is examined with 
the naked eye, nothing peculiar is discoverable. If 
a small particle of it is covered with acetic acid or 
potash, by which addition they become transparent, 
small, whitish opaque points on the ends of the cap- 
sules are visible. But if these are few in number, 
they are not so characteristic that we can, without 
the microscope, recognize the dangerous condition of 
the meat. We must be careful to guard against 
mistakes. Particles of fat frequent in meat, sections 
of vessels, nerves, tendons, and parasitical deposits 
may present the same appearance, and the presence 
of the capsule only be distinctly seen by a certain 
magnifying power. The magnifying power need not 
be high. With a power of ten or twelve we can 
readily see the relation, and distinguish both the cap- 
sule and animal. A somewhat higher power, as 50 
or 100, is however more desirable, inasmuch as it 
precludes the liability to deception. If a still longer 
time elapses after the animal has migrated, other 
changes occur in the capsules; the most usual of 
which is that lime-salts are deposited, when the 



I 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 241 

capsules are caviled 'chalky.' Formerly it was be- 
lieved that the animal itself changed to chalk, but 
this is scarcely ever the case. Generally this change 
to chalk begins in the thickened interior, while the 
exterior remains unchanged. The lime-salts appear 
as very minute granules, which by reflected light 
appear white, and with transmitted light appear 
dark, shady, or altogether black, and if the lime 
increases it eventually covers the whole animal, and 
we can not distinguish the latter under the micro- 
scope, even if it be entire. It is then encased as by 
an egg-shell. 

"If the human body into which the trichina pene= 
trates is well nourished, another change occurs. 
Around the capsule, and particularly around their 
appendages, appear fat-cells. When this deposit of 
fat attains a certain size it forms around the capsule 
a lump, which marks the location of the capsule 
more plainly than it is by the chalky deposit, for 
from the moment the former attains a certain mag- 
nitude the capsule is visible to the naked eye as a 
white spot, and this is the condition to which all the 
earlier Qbservations relate. 

"In figure 1 this condition of a human muscle is 

shown. Upon the red surface, striped lengthwise 

by its bundle of fibers, as it appears to the naked 

eye, are a certain number of globular or egg-shaped 

21 



242 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

points, on which, by very careful observation, can be 
distinguished the less opaque center, indicating the 
position of the worm. 

" If acetic or hydrochloric acid be added to these 
white points they nearly disappear. But these acids 
produce precipitates from the meat juice, and cause 
the entire surface of the meat experimented upon to 
assume an indistinct and murky appearance. The 
best plan is to cut out small particles with fine 
scissors, teaze them out with fine needles, and thus 
separate the capsule from the meat itself. When this 
is done on a plate of glass, on a dark surface, one can 
see the capsule as white grains, and mark the dis- 
solving effgct of the acids. 

"This mode of investigation is best done not by 
the naked eye, but by the microscope; nevertheless, 
to those who are experienced, the capsule in this 
chalky state is so characteristic that the confounding 
it with other appearances is impossible. For investi- 
gation of meat in such a case it is sufficient to care- 
fully examine the meat, and if white points be 
noticed, to add the acids, as before mentioned. If 
they are nearly dissolved by the acids, no doubt 
remains. If they remain white, it is probable that 
they are particles of fat, or sections of nerve fibers, 
or similar structures. Nevertheless, we must re- 
member that lumps of fat may exist near the chalk 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 243 

capsules, and that therefore the negative success of 
the experiment is less convincing than the positive. 
This is especially true in case there are few trichinae, 
because these are generally cured, the capsules being 
chalked and closely encased in deposits of fat. More- 
over, the whole appearance is then less characteristic. 
It is self-evident that the investigation with the micro- 
scope alone furnishes a sufficient guarantee. 

"I now refer to a peculiar case. Some time ago 
Meisner found in most of the muscles of the mouse 
white stripes, visible to the naked eye, and which, on 
microscopic examination, were seen to be cylindrical 
tubes, each of which contained a number of long, 
kidney-shaped bodies, of which it was doubtful 
whether they were of a parasitical nature, or formed 
a disease of the muscles. 

"Later, Von Heszling found the same structures in 
the heart of the deer, and also, but more frequently, 
in that of the sheep. Yon Siebold and Bischoff ob- 
served them in rats. Lately I received from Messrs. 
Dr. Grundler and Archidiaconus Ad. Schmidt, of 
Ascherslaben, pieces of pig's flesh, together with 
drawings representing the same structures. 

"By investigation I have become satisfied that 
these are essentially the same as those found in 
the heart of the sheep, and I have no doubt that 
these are not animal products, but a parasitical 



244 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

structure; but I am not determined whether, as Von 
Siebold believes, they belong to the vegetable world, 
or whether they are animal bodies. They bear a 
near resemblance to certain forms of zoosperm. 
Certainly the tubes which contain them present to 
the naked eye an appearance very similar to the 
capsules of the trichina, and I mention them here 
that mistaking them for the latter may be avoided. 

"Whether they are dangerous to life I can not 
decide now, for we have made no observations about 
it. Further investigations may decide. Suffice it to 
say that these tubes differ from the trichina in this, 
that they have never been found encased in the lime 
deposit, and that the capsule does not pertain to the 
muscle, and that they do not contain worms, but only 
the minute egg or kidney-shaped bodies. This dis- 
covery shows clearly that the microscope only can 
determine the facts in any investigation of meat. 

" Recurring to the trichina, if we wish to determine 
their presence, the question confronts us. Where shall 
we investigate — i. e.y from what part of the infested 
body is the meat for examination to be taken? Even 
in cases of slight infestation by trichina it is not of 
serious consequence what part is thus selected from, 
for they are generally found in all the muscles, from 
the smallest to the largest; from those of the trunk 
as well as those of the head and members. One set 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 245 

of muscular fibers alone is an exception — viz., the 
heart. Therefore the eating of this last can be done 
without danger. But though the trichina are spread 
through all the muscles, yet they seem to be more 
numerous in some than in others. These are the 
ends of the muscles — i. e., those portions where the 
muscle adjoins the tendons and the bone. 

"All we have said hitherto relates only to the en- 
capsuled trichina, which are already encased in lime. 
But how shall we find those which are not in this 
state, or are in the process of becoming encapsuled? 

"Without the microscope this is altogether impos- 
sible. To be sure I have seen with the naked eye a 
full-grown, free trichina, as a white point, but whether 
this point was an animal I could not with certainty 
affirm. 

"The movements of a free trichina are scarcely 
recognizable. It never amounts to a change of 
posture of its entire body. In unusual conditions it 
moves slightly, but usually this consists of mere 
diminution and return of the breadth of the coil. 

"These changes of movement are so very slight 
that they are quite invisible to the naked eye. But 
if the animal be wholly uncoiled it will be invisible, 
since the very narrow, transparent body interposes 
little or no obstacle to the perfect transmission of 
light. 



246 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



a 



The best mode of proceeding consists in cutting 
with a sharp knife a small bundle of meat, putting 
this on a clean glass plate, add a drop of water, 
cover it with a very thin slip of glass, pressed down, 
and bring the whole under the microscope. 

" We now speak not of capsules, but of the trichina 
itself. We therefore describe the animal." 

A full-grown, old muscle trichina, as shown three 
hundred times magnified, is a round worm that is 
similar in shape to a rain-worm. It has an anterior 
pointed end in which is the mouth, from which a 
narrow tube (the oesophagus) proceeds. The oesoph- 
agus is surrounded by a thick body of cells, which 
stretch through a great part of the body, and end 
in a fine intestine. The intestine runs to the posterior 
end, where it terminates in an orifice. 

The trichina is therefore a fully-organized animal 
of the class worms, the inner structure of which can 
be well recognized on account of the transparency 
of its skin. But of course this can only be done 
with a microscope and a lens of 300 diameters. 

It is to be remarked that no species of maggot has 
any resemblance to it — especially the larvae of flies 
have quite a different shape, and are a great deal 
larger; and if ignorant butchers and others assert 
that the trichina affair was that of harmless maggots, 
it is only a sign of exceeding ignorance and levity. 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 



247 



These animals are very distinctly male and female. 
The following cut, from the pamphlet of Dr. J. D. 
Jackson, shows the male trichina of the intestines. 
This specimen is a full-grown male, with the gen- 
erative organs exhibited at the tail, magnified 150 
diameters. 

There is a marked difference be- 
tween the male and female. Besides A 
an alimentary canal, the female has 
an additional tube opening toward 
the mouth, which latter is situated 
at the most attenuated end of the 
worm, ct)ntrary to v/hat the early 
observers supposed. This tube is 
the receptacle for its eggs, which 
are developed in her previous to ex- 
trusion; the animal is viviparous, 
and produces, according to Yirchow, 
200, to Gerlach 400, and according 
to Leuckhart 1,000 embryos. The 
young thus born are without sex. 
that re-ingestion by the stomach or bowels is neces- 
sary to their development, for if they remain in their 
encysted state they ultimately perish. 

The following cut pretty clearly represents one of 
the female animals full of eggs, and young trichinse 
in great numbers escaping from her sexual organs. 




Fig. 2. 
A, head; B, tail. 

It would seem 



248 



TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



Of course the animal is highly magniiied, in order 
to show the little animals. Attention is especially 
called to this cut. 




Fig. 3. A, head; B, tail; C, small trichinae escaping. 

The female, as before observed, is much larger 
than the male, and also much more numerous. By 
some observers it is stated that there are seven or 
eight females to one male. Hence the wonderful 
rapidity with which they multiply. Immense num- 
bers of them may be found within a very small 
space. Dalton observed twelve trichinae in a piece 
of muscle the one twelfth of an inch square and one 
fiftieth of an inch thick, which would give 7,200 to 
the square inch; and w^e ourselves have in a piece 
of muscle weighing one tenth of a grain been able to 
distinctly count eleven, giving thus 52,800 to the 
ounce. A few moT.thfuls of feed infested at such 
a rate would anord females enough to generate mil- 
lions. (Jackson.) 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 249 

Tiie parent trichinae after giving birth to their 
young are expelled from the intestines. About a 
week usually after trichinous food has been taken 
into the stomach the young animals have been 
hatched, and commence boring into the walls of the 
intestines ; though Fiedler's experiments upon rabbits 
show that the trichinae may become sexual during 
the second or third day, and the embryos quit the 
mother to commence their peregrinations on the fourth 
day. How do they get into the muscles? This 
question is answered in two ways. Dalton says 
they reach their destination by means of the cir- 
culation, and has been led to conclude that the cysts 
are formed within the walls of the capillary blood- 
vessels. The oedema observed in trichina disease 
confirms this idea. He says: "It would be difficult 
to explain on any other supposition, but is easily 
understood by an arrest of the circulation taking 
place simultaneously in so many capillary blood- 
vessels as must necessarily be obstructed when 7,000 
trichinae are contained within the space of a cubic 
inch." 

The foregoing explanation is opposed by Virchow 
and Leuckhart, who believe that the parasite works 
its way to its place of destination by vermicular 
motion, and by boring through the structures with 
which they come in contact, and finally lodging in 



250 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

the muscular fiber. This view is confirmed by the 
fact that we have no record of the animal being 
found in the blood. When they reach the muscles 
they commence undergoing encapsulation, and bejcome 
completely inclosed, and so remain till they are set 
free by being taken into the stomach of some flesh- || 
eating animal. . They do not infest all parts of the 
body, as none have as yet been seen in the heart, 
brain, bladder, or in fat. Usually but a single worm 
is contained in a cyst, though occasionally two and 
sometimes three or four are found. (Jackson.) 

As before stated, when the worm becomes encysted 
it remains in its dormant state until the death of its 
host, when, if chance favors its entrance into the 
stomach of another animal, it begins anew its cycle 
of development; otherwise it perishes. Scoutetten 
gives a case where the muscles of a subject, who 
had been infected thirteen years previously, promptly 
developed and gave forth young upon being swal- 
low^ed by a rabbit; and in the London Medical Times 
and Gazette for June, 1866, is the record of a case 
from Virchow's archives, in which living trichinse 
within calcareous capsules were found in a patient 
who had been trichinosed twenty-four years pre- 
viously. (Jackson.) 

A rather singular fact has been observed by Yir- 
chow and others, that though trichinae would undergo 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 251 

development and propagate in the intestines of the 
dog, they would not penetrate through the intestines 
and enter the muscles. The hog, of all animals, is 
the most easily infected, and it is from this animal 
that nearly or quite all the cases of infection of the 
human subject have been produced. This is a fact 
of great importance where the flesh of the hog is the 
chief article of animal food. It must be kept in 
mind, however, that other animals are sometimes 
infected, such as the calf, ox, goat, sheep, rabbit, 
hare, mice, rats, moles, etc. As yet in none of the 
barn-yard fowls have the muscular trichinae been 
found, though repeated experiments have been made 
to determine the point. (Jackson.) 

After much investigation and many experiments, 
the conclusion seems to be that of all the animals 
which come to our table, we need fear trichinous in- 
fection from the hog alone. Some cases of infection 
from eating beef are recorded. Dr. Percy, of New 
York, has given a case of this kind, and several 
German observers have seen cases of infection from 
eating raw beef; but such cases are comparatively 
rare. 

These little animals manifest a wonderful tenacity 
of life. Leuckhart submitted trichinous flesh for 
three days to a temperature of thirteen degrees 
below zero, F.; after which he fed it to a rabbit, 



252 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

which died trichinosed at the end of four weeks ; and 
it has been ascertained that they will bear for a 
time with impunity a temperature up to 169° F., but 
heated above that point they are infallibly destroyed. 
(Kestner.) 

Hertwig boiled trichinous meat, cut in slices the 
size of one's thumb, for twenty-two minutes without 
killing the trichinse, though a continuation of the 
boiling three minutes longer destroyed them. 

Virchow demonstrated the difficulty of destroying 
them by soaking trichinous meat in a solution of 
chromic acid so strong as to coagulate the muscular 
tissue; and yet, after eight days of digestion, on 
denuding them from their capsules, they showed by 
their movements that they had not been injured. It 
has been said that salting may be relied upon as a 
destructive means. Accurate investigations demon- 
strated that the effect of salting is so uncertain that 
it can not be relied upon; a person has been infected 
by pork which had been submitted to a salting for 
thirty-five days. Smoking is equally doubtful. 

With a view to the destruction of the trichinae 
while in the intestines, a great many experiments 
have been made upon the muscular trichinae with a 
variety of medicinal substances, such as arsenic, 
chloroform, santonine, iodide of potash, chloride of 
sodium, etc. Some of these medicines have been 



TKICHINA SriRALIS. 253 

sufficient to destroy them,' but no practical results so 
far as destroying them while in the system have been 
obtained. The only reliance against infection seems 
at last to be heat ; when a piece of meat has been 
heated in cooking to above 170°, at which the albu- 
men in the worm is coagulated, and in this way, and 
this way only, is there a certainty that they will be 
destroyed. 

Germany of all countries has suffered most from 
the trichina disease, for the very good reason that it 
is a common habit among them to eat raw meat. It 
is not a matter of very great astonishment that so 
many of them should sicken and die. Several Ger- 
man writers and microscopists have given earnest and 
careful study to this little parasite, and the writer 
feels that he can not do better than give their ex- 
periments to show how important it is for every one 
to be posted in regard to the habits of these worms, 
and the mischief they have done and are likely yet 
to do. Virchow, Zencker, and Kuchenmeister, and 
in this country Leidy, Dalton, and others, have been 
foremost in these investigations, Virchow says, after 
giving an account of a number of cases that came 
under his observation: 

" One has to remark here that all these were first 
recognized by dissection, and while these persons 
lived no one had a misgiving of their condition. All 



254 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

the trichinse found in these cases were encapsuled; 
they were therefore all cured cases ; but they have a 
weighty significance, as they show that the possi- 
bility of a danger we fear in other cases is not far 
removed. 

" But these experiences would not have been suffi- 
cient to arouse the general interest if other cases of 
fresh migration, not encapsuled, and free trichinae had 
not been discovered, and if we had not been led hy 
this to investigate the source of these migrations, and 
if, finally, no epidemic of cases, and cases of death in 
consequence thereof, had occurred. 

"It is the merit of Zencker that he first, in and 
near Dresden, observed such an epidemic, and also 
showed in the ham and sausages made from one par- 
ticular pig the trichina. This pig had been butchered 
on a farm near Dresden. The butcher, the owner of 
the farm, and other people had fallen sick, and a pre- 
viously perfectly healthy servant girl had died. In 
her body an abundance of trichinae were found. I 
received from Mr. Zencker a piece of the ham, as 
well as a muscle of the girl, and therefore had the 
opportunity not only to verify his previous observa- 
tions, but with this material to make a series of 
experiments on animals, which I will shortly state. 

'^ A rabbit fed with trichinae, from the girl died in a 
month with its flesh full of them. Some of this 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 255 

flesh was given to a second rabbit; it also died in a 
month. With this meat three other rabbits were fed. 
Of these, two died at the end of three weeks, and 
the third in the fourth week. To another animal the 
meat of these was fed. As it ate but little it lived 
six weeks. In all of these the muscles after death 
were found filled with trichinae. Even in the smallest 
particle of their meat several were found. 

^^ To be certain that this result was in reality due 
to the fed trichina meat, I examined parts of the 
muscles of some of these animals before they were 
fed. I did not find a single trichina, and they have 
never been found in these animals unless they had 
previously been fed with meat containing trichinae. 
A few weeks after feeding, the muscles of the same 
animals which I had found free of them were filled 
with them. Convincing as these experiments of the 
infection resulting in death were, through five gen- 
erations of animals, one might still imagine them to 
be the result of chance. 

" To preclude this possibility, there was only to be 
shown that the migration and infestation really pro- 
ceeded from the feeding of the animals with trichinae. 
This, however, could be demonstrated. It could be 
proved that the trichinae in the fed meat became free 
in the stomach and intestines of the rabbit, and 
become individuals of both sexes, which in a short 



256 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

time attained a length of from three to four mille- 
metres, and with the naked eye can he seen as fine, 
white threads. Eggs are produced in the female, and 
from these young even in the hody of the mother, 
which about a week later are born, and move about 
freely in the mucus of the intestine. The trichinae 
are therefore animals which beget living young. 

"The young are exceedingly minute. They are 
the smallest of the class of thread-worms known. It 
is the young which leave the intestine and penetrate 
the body. 

"I have found them in the lymphatic glands of the 
mesentery, in the peritoneal cavity, and in the peri- 
cardium, and in the muscles. In the latter they find 
the suitable conditions fc^ their further development. 
Here they increase, and in fi^om three to five weeks 
attain the size of their parents at the time they were 
fed. 

"The above series of investigations, which I com- 
municated to the Paris Academy of Sciences at their 
session of July 2, 1860, allow no doubt of the his- 
tory and importance of the trichina. I have myself 
repeated these investigations several times, and other 
observers have done likewise. If we add to these 
the observations made on men, which increase every 
year, it must be regarded as foUy or criminal to speak 
of unfounded fear of trichina. 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 257 

"A whole series of cases, or, as they are called, 
epidemical, are well established. I refer to the 
epidemics of Pla.uen, Calbe on Saale, Quedlinburg, 
Burg near Magdeburg, Weimar, and Hettstadt near 
Eislaben, as well as the very curious case which 
happened on a Hamburg vessel. Several other epi- 
demics which have been probably caused by trichinae 
I do not report, because of there having been no 
microscopic investigation. In the other epidemics 
there were many cases; twenty to fifty persons 
were infested ; but in the case of Hettstadt one hun- 
dred and fifty persons fell sick, several of these very 
severely, and the number of deaths were above 
twenty. There is no room, therefore, for doubt. The 
most reliable observations have been made. I have 
examined flesh from the cases at Burg and Hettstadt, 
and found them literally filled with trichinae. 

"It is not the purpose of this treatise to dilate 
upon the symptoms of the disease in particular. It 
may suffice to say that the symptoms are various. 
Sometimes they are irritation of the intestines (in- 
testinal catarrh), dysentery, gastric disturbances, and 
muscular disease, as weakness, stiffness, pains resem- 
bling gout or rheumatism, and a febrile condition 
similar to that of typhus fever. Sometimes the 
train of symptoms are acute, and death occurs in the 

fourth or fifth week. Sometimes they proceed more 

22 



258 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

slowly, and after weeks convalescence occurs, with 
chronic disease, emaciation, and loss of strength. In 
several cases I have examined the dead bodies of 
those supposed to have been victims of consumption. 
In these, with very little affection of the lungs, I 
found many trichinae, with great decrease of muscular 
substance. 

"To the experienced physician these cases of 
disease have peculiarities by which they are dis- 
tinguished from gastric and nervous fevers, from 
gout and rheumatic affections; but a perfectly re- 
liable judgment can only be found if trichinae have 
been found in the meat which was eaten, or in the 
body of the patient himself; but the latter is only 
possible if a small piece of muscle be taken by an 
operation from the body of the patient. Without the 
certainty of the presence of the animals, w^e formerly 
were in doubt as to the nature of the case, and the 
supposition of poisoning was prevalent. 

"Since the year 1860 I and several other observers 
have endeavored to spread a knowledge of these facts, 
and to call attention to the danger which might result 
from an incautious eating of pork. From the be- 
ginning the opposition of the butchers was raised, 
and even now it still exists. I remark, however, 
that it is precisely these tradesmen who should be 
most interested in adopting every precaution, for thft 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 259 

clanger not only affects their trade, but their per- 
sonal welfare. 

"In some of the epidemics, as well as in a series of 
single cases — for instance those of Friedrich, Traube, 
and Tungel — it was just the butchers who were in- 
fected by the pig they killed. Of course we have 
no idea of infection by the skin; but the butchers not 
only eat of the sausages, but most of them are in the 
habit of eating a little of the uncooked meat, at the 
time of cutting it up, as well as that which adheres 
to the knife during that process — they therefore are 
the first exposed to the danger; next come the 
cooks and servants; and lastly the rest of the popu- 
lation. But even after, evil-minded persons spread 
the assertion that the disease had not even been 
shown in the pig. This is utterly untrue. 

"As I said in a former portion of this paper, Leidy, 
in North America, sixteen years ago, found trichinae 
in a pig. Zencker found them in the ham and sau- 
sages of the pig partaken of by the patients and 
servant girl who died in the Dresden epidemic. He 
sent me one piece of that ham, and I ascertained 
that it contained trichinae. 

"The same results have been found in the epi- 
demics at Quedlinburg and Hettstadt, in hams in the 
former and in sausages in the latter. In Hettstadt it 
happened that most of the people who were taken ill 



260 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



• 



had participated in a feast, which took place on the 
10th of October of kst year. Most convincing, how- 
' ever, is the case described by Tungel. 

"The second argument is no more reasonable. The 
most careful trials with feeding, by Haubner and 
Kuchenmeister and Leisering, pigs with trichina 
meat resulted in showing that some of these animals 
sickened and died, but in their conclusions they state 
that the pigs so fed presented no peculiar symptoms, 
such as would be indicative of this disease alone, and 
furthermore the reports of the cases of epidemics 
contain no mention of any such peculiar symptoms in 
the pigs whose meat caused the disease in human 
beings.''' But even if we admit that these peculiar 
symptoms of infection exist in the pig, these will not 
be apparent when the pigs are in the market and for 
sale. 

"Such are cases of already cured and encapsuled 
trichina). The real symptoms of disease may have 
appeared months before, and in single cases very 
honest owners offering them may acknowledge that 
the pigs had been sick. But there is no security in 

* Dr. Eupprecht, in Hettstadt, wrote me resj)ecting the 
pig from which proceeded the in lection there. It was a 
two and a half year old mother pig, who aj^peared to five 
butchers perfectly healthy; another, and the sixth, bought 
it. It therefore did not appear suspicious to him, for he and 
seven members of the family ate tlio meat and became sick. 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 261 

these circumstances. If one considers how many- 
pigs come to market, especially in large cities, not 
only from the distance of miles, but also from more 
distant provinces and countries, it is impossible to 
investigate the history of the previous state of health 
of the animals. 

" It has been shown that encapsulation, and the in- 
filtration of the capsule with chalk, does not kill the 
animals. In most cases in human beings where I 
found these capsules the inclosed animal was still 
alive. How long had elapsed since the migration I 
can not state, for in all these cases the time when 
they first entered the body could not be ascertained. 
But it is certain that months must elapse before the 
deposit of carbonate of lime commences, and it is 
highly probable that the trichinse may remain in the 
body of the human subject in a state of suspended 
animation, to awake to new activity as soon as they 
are taken into another body. I have repeatedly, with 
success, fed such tiichin^e to animals. Notwithstand- 
ing all argument, and the question is not merely 
allowed, but enjoined, why is it that the accidents 
which follow the eating of trichina meat are so vari- 
ous in their degree and significance? 

"A ship from Hamburg returned from Valparaiso. 
Before quitting the captain purchased a live pig. It 
wfl« Rlaua:htered by the cook on board the ship, on 



262 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



1 



the 1st of April, 1863. The crew ate thirty pounds 
of the pork fresh, and the remainder was salted. On 
entering the port most of the sailors fell sick; most 
of them slightly so — some, however, severely — and 
two died. In a sixteen-year-old youth, who died on 
the 24th, numerous free, living trichinae were found 
in the muscles. The salted pork, a piece of which I 
obtained and examined, contained trichinae, though 
dead. 

" That trichinae are found in pigs, and that people 
who eat this meat fall sick, can no more he doubted. 
Most people are consoled with the idea that the 
infection of pigs is not frequent, and that those who 
have them must evince the symptoms. The first 
idea may be admitted, but what consolation does it 
afford those who have the misfortune to eat of the 
meat of the few pigs which have trichinae? This 
question is to be answered definitely. 

"The intestinal consequences (gastric fever and 
dysentery) are consequent upon the presence of the 
animals therein. The length of this period is in- 
definite. If after persons have eaten the meat they 
have severe diarrhea, it may be possible that all the 
animals are discharged. If not, they grow, move 
about, procreate, and then comes the morbid irrita- 
tion; this appears differently in different individuals. 
Sensitive persons, who are liable to diarrhea, are on 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 263 

the whole more secure from infestation than persons 
inclined to costiveness. 

" The muscular and febrile symptoms proceed from 
the penetration of the young from the intestine into 
the body. But these too vary with individual pecu- 
liarities. Certain conditions of the intestine may 
favor their migration or otherwise. 

"I never succeeded in producing the disease in 
dogs, although the development of trichinae in their 
intestines is very complete, for the first I discovered 
were in a dog. We have as yet no statistics on the 
subject, as the observations made do not furnish suffi- 
cient data. The second idea is still less valid. 

"If the migration is in course of progress, the 
danger is in the ratio of the number of migrating 
animals. This, however, varies. I have seen cases 
of human bodies where I could only by a very ex- 
tended search find about a dozen trichinae in the 
muscle. There, are other cases of millions. The 
noticeable effects are produced by the action of the 
animals on the places to which they penetrate. 

"A person who has but a dozen or so will probably 
never have any perception of it — his health will not 
be disturbed for a moment. A second, into whose 
muscles thousands have penetrated, will have all 
kinds of disagreeable sensations, as pains in the 
muscles, stiff'ness, weakness, heaviness in his limbs. 



264 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

hoarseness, etc. ; but he will pass through these symp- 
toms, the migrating animals will become encapsuled, 
and inclosed with lime. Thus a cure will be effected. 
A third, into whose muscles millions migrate, will 
perhaps recover too, but very slowly. He will re- 
main weak, diseased, and very thin; or he may not 
recover, and may die by advancing disturbance of all 
muscular activity, especially that of respiration. This 
is evident if we remember the three cardinal points 
of the trichina elucidation: 

^^1. The eaten trichinae remain in the intestine, 
and never enter the muscles. 

"2. They produce living young, which enter the 
muscles. 

"3. The young which have entered the muscles 
grow there, but do not multiply. 

" The main danger, therefore, is in the production 
of young by the intestinal trichinae. 

"A grown trichina mother has a hundred of living 
young in her body, and after these young she always 
produces more and more eggs. How long she lives 
and produces young is not exactly known, but at 
least four or five weeks. It is certain that she is 
fixed in the intestine and continues to produce new 
broods of young. If we calculate that one trichina 
mother has two hundred young, twenty thousand 
such mothers are sufficient to produce a milHon of 



I 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 265 

young, and so many female animals may be contained 
in a few morsels of meat. 

" The more trichinae that are eaten, and the longer 
they remain in the intestine, the more young will be 
produced and the danger increased. I have proved 
this directly by experiments on animals. 

"A rabbit which ate only a small part of meat 
containing few trichinae does not become diseased. 
In the epidemic of Burg this was strikingly illus- 
trated. A woman who ate raw meat on bread died. 
Her child, which only licked the spoon with which 
she had spread the meat, was slightly sick." 

"It is certain," says Virchow, "that a person as 
well as a pig can have trichinae in his body without 
causing very serious illness or death. That is, how- 
ever, a small comfort, inasmuch as an absolute pre- 
ventative against trichinae can not be found; and 
inasmuch, moreover, as no special investigation of 
meat can be extended to all parts of it." 

There can be no question that a very large migra- 
tion of the animals into the human body does pro- 
duce disease, and in many instances death; and it 
would seem that this is sufficient to do away with 
all objections on the part of any to a thorough 
investigation of meat offered in market for sale ; yet 
there are some who even doubt the existence of the 

animal. 

23 



266 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

In discovering that the tape-worm in man came " 
from eating of the cysticercus of pigs, it has been 
supposed that the Mosaic commandment was given 
on account of the danger from tape-worms. But 
tape-worms seldom cause real disease, and are not 
dangerous in the literal sense, and if the prohibition 
proceeded from a knowledge of a transmitted malady, 
the idea of the trichina in connection therewith is 
more probable. Certainly most men do not sicken 
immediately after eating trichinae in meat. Days 
pass, and suspicion may easily fall on a familiar 
cause. Still, if numerous persons get sick at the 
same time, the suspicion will finally be led to the 
true source. 

A remarkable case of infestation is mentioned by 
Virchow, taken from Herr Langenback, to which the 
reader's careful attention is invited. It shows how 
easily one may be mistaken, and how careful should 
be our investigations. f { 

^'Last summer Herr Langenback operated on a 
man for swelled neck. During the operation the raw 
muscles were seen to be filled with trichinae, sur- 'I 
rounded with the chalk deposit. When it was in- 
quired whether he had never been sick in a peculiar 
way he told a strange story. In the year 1845 the 
members of a commission for inspection of schools 
in the Lausitz, at a meal, ate ham, sausage, cheese^ 



TEICHINA SPIRALIS. 267 

etc., at an inn. One member partook of only some 
red wine. The other seven members drank white 
wine and ate of the provisions. All seven, in which 
number was included the relator, fell sick, and sub- 
sequently four died. Suspicion was aroused toward 
the inn-keeper and the meal. Judicial investigation 
was had, in which the white wine was tested, but 
without result; but the inn-keeper could not dispel 
the suspicion excited against him, and was eventually 
obliged to emigrate. 

"In June, 1851, in the neighborhood of Hamburg, 
a number of persons who had eaten ham afterward 
fell sick. Three died, and several others were for a 
long time in a low condition. The judicial investiga- 
tion was here also without result, and finally ham 
poison was supposed. 

"Parts of the ham remained, and its history could 
be traced to the butcher. It was then ascertained 
that the ham had been sold cheaper, on account of its 
poor quality, but what this inferiority of quality con- 
sisted in was not ascertained. Through the carefully- 
conducted transactions in this case, Tungel proved 
that the symptoms and the cause were exactly identi- 
cal with what we know now of the trichina disease. 

"More cases might be named, but what is given 
suffices to prove that the disease has existed before 
we had any knowledge of trichinae, and the need of 



268 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

the case is not the malady, but the knowledge of it. 
Nobody, therefore, should try to hide the danger 
with such paltry reasoning, when only a conscious 
insight into the sources of the disturbance enables 
us to avoid or in a great degree diminish it and its 
extent." 

Nearly all the cases alluded to in the foregoing 
pages have been confined to Germany; but the cases 
are by no means confined to that country, and many 
cases of trichina disease have occurred in this country. 
Observations recently made in Chicago show that 
some sections of North America would seem to have 
the swine inhabiting them as frequently infected aio 
in any part of Germany. By Scoutetten's account, 
the entozoa is also found in South America. He 
relates the case of a ship coming into Hamburg from 
Valparaiso, Chili, with several sailors sick, two of 
whom died in hospital, with the symptoms of trichi- 
niasis, and the muscles of one of whom were exam- 
ined, and found infiltrated with living, non-encysted 
trichinae. Upon tracing the malady to the source of 
infection, it was found that a hog had been bought at 
Valparaiso and subsequently killed aboard ship, and 
that its flesh — a part fresh and part salted — had been 
a part of the sailors' diet. Upon examining with the 
microscope a piece of that which had been salted 
away, it was found infiltrated with trichinae. 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 269 

In the United States, thus far, there have been but 
few cases of trichina disease recorded. The first of 
.vhich we are aware as having been fully made out 
is such in this country were those occurring in the 
^jractice of Dr. Schnetter, of New York City, in 
February, 1864, in the case of a German family who 
had been eating raw ham, which, upon microscopic 
examination made subsequently, was found filled 
with trichinae, and which resulted in a dangerous 
infection of the whole family, and the death of one 
pf its members. Dr. Voss, a short time subsequently, 
was called to see the captain, first mate, and cook of 
^ Bremen ship then lying in the harbor of New York. 
The symptoms were of an anomalous kind, but such 
as to induce Dr. Voss to suspect trichinous infection. 
To satisfy himself he cut down upon the deltoid 
muscle of the second mate, and upon removing a por- 
tion of its tissue, and subjecting it to the microscope, 
by the calculation of Dr. John C. Dal ton, who ex- 
amined a piece given him by Dr. Voss, it contained a 
little over seven thousand trichinae to the cubic inch. 
Dr. Lathrop, of Buffalo, has also reported a case. 
Recently in Linn County, Iowa, we have an ac- 
count of nine persons in a family eating raw ham, 
with the serious illness of all of them, and the 
death of five. The cases thus far recorded in this 
country have been nearly aU among the foreign popu- 



270 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

lation, among whom the custom of eating raw meat 
prevails. ^' 

Dr. Leidy says that the inhabitants of the United 
States appear to be less infested with entozoa than 
those of any other part of the world, and accounts 
for it by the fact that an abundance of wholesome 
food being at the ^command of the poorest laborer, 
there is produced a high organic activity, which is 
unfavorable to parasitical development. He gives the 
cooking of food, by destroying the germs of parasites, 
as the reason for man, notwithstanding his liability 
to the latter, being less infested than most other 
mammalia; and very pertinently asks, "Did instinct 
originally teach him to cook his food, to avoid the 
introduction of parasites?" 

Before closing this chapter the author desires to 
give his own observations on the subject of trichinae. 
Before he had known scarcely anything about these 
parasites he had observed, while making post-mortem 
examinations with the view particularly to under- 
stand hog cholera, small, thread-like worms in the air 
passages and in the air cells of the lungs. This fact 
itself was unexpected, for no one had even mentioned 
the existence of worms in the lungs, so far as known 
to him. Having so frequently met with them in hogs 
that had died from cholera, he was led to inquire 
whether they also existed in fat hogs slaughtered for 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 271 

food. Search being made at the butchers' pens where 
hogs were being killed for the market, they too were 
found to be infested with precisely the same kind of 
worms. These worms were about half an inch to an 
inch or more in length, and were exactly the same 
size — i. e., they were not larger in one part of the 
body than another — in fact, hair-like. With the 
naked eye nothing could be determined in regard 
to their structure. Not being familiar with the use 
of the microscope, they were submitted to eiperts in 
the use of that instrument. After careful and re- 
peated examinations, they were pronounced to be 
filled with trichinae. These young trichinae were 
seen escaping in almost countless numbers from the 
sexual organ of the female, as represented in the 
cut (fig. 3). 

These worms have been observed by others as 
existing in the lungs, but none, so far as the writer 
is aware, have had them, examined under the miscro- 
scope. They are not confined to the lungs, but are 
met with also in the bowels. The author does not 
rely upon his own knowledge upon the matter, but. 
as before remarked, has submitted them to the best 
microscopists in his reach, and some of whom, he 
presumes to say, have few if any superiors in this 
country as careful and accurate observers; and it is 
upon their authority that he pronounces that these 



272 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

worms are the carriers of the dreaded trichinse. The 
author is not prepared to state the percentage of 
hogs that die or are slaughtered infested with these 
worms, but certainly quite enough of them are so 
infested as to cause serious fears and earnest atten- 
tion. It will be a matter of great satisfaction if 
these worms turn out to be other than trichinae; 
but as the matter now stands the conclusion is in- 
evitable that they are, and that the lungs, as well as 
the intestines and the muscles, are infested by them. 
The above facts may be easily verified by any one 
who will take the trouble to look for them. It is 
possible, nay, highly probable, that in those animals 
in which the worm is found in the lungs they may 
also be found in the muscles. The strong probability 
is that many more hogs are infested by these ter- 
rible little parasites than any one has even dreamed. 
Certainly a large number of hogs are infested with 
trichinae. 

The great question in view of all this is, what pre- 
ventive measures can be adopted to arrest the spread 
of trichinae. Virchow has given us some excellent 
advice on this point. 

"In the first part I named those animals in which 
trichinae had hitherto been found, from which we see 
that carnivorous and omnivorous animals are men- 
tioned. The mole was named, which most farmers 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 273 

think to be only a plant and root-eating animal; but 
it is of importance as a destroyer of grubs, rain- 
worms, snails, mice, and young rats, as the late 
Grloger in his valuable writings has explained. 

" It is evident that in the common course of affairs 
trichinse can only be found in carnivora. For we 
have seen that the intestinal trichinae produce living 
young, which migrate into the flesh, and only here 
attain their further development, and that they can not 
leave the meat in any other way than after it has been 
eaten. This regular progression from the intestine 
into the muscle, and from the muscle into the intes- 
tine, is only possible in meat-eaters. Still there are 
two exceptions. 

" In the first place, the plant-eating animals are not 
so perfectly select in the choice of their nutrition 
that they might not occasionally swallow meat. If 
small pieces of meat are placed in the mouth of a 
rabbit, calf, or pigeon, it swallows them, and upon 
this depends the possibility of feeding them with 
trichina meat, of which we have spoken. It might 
happen, therefore, by accident, that without artificial 
feeding a plant animal might eat trichina meat. Still, 
for the consolation of the reader, it may be said that 
such cases have not been observed. 

"There is another way imaginable than the eating 
of meat by which an infection may occur. Leuckhart 



274 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

has pointed out this possibility. If, for instance, in 
an animal the intestines of which contain pregnant 
trichinae, and the contents, when expelled, of the in- 
testine of which are eaten by a second, the latter 
may become infected. It is known that pigs will eat 
human excrement, and this infection may occur with- 
out the eating of meat. Although this kind of infec- 
tion has not yet been proved, it is very likely that it 
may occur in pigs; and it can not be denied that 
there is a possibility of other animals also being 
affected in this way. 

"It is not certain that the trichinae found in moles, 
flesh-eating birds, or even cats, are identical with 
those found in human beings. If we leave out of 
consideration that in large cities cat's meat is some- 
times eaten, the trichinae found in the former animals 
are of no interest in our investigation, except that 
pigs might be infested from them. For this we have 
as yet no certain data, and it might be a subject of 
further investigation only for the purpose of ascer- 
taining where the moles get their trichinae from. 

" I consider it as established that it is only the un- 
clean or carnivorous animals that are dangerous to man^ 
and the most dangerous among these is the pig. It is 
not yet known whether the wild boar is liable to 
infection. The plant-eating animal can he considered 
clean nnd not dangerous. 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 275 

''The main care of municipalities and individuals 
should be directed to the pigs. The following points 
of view are to be considered here: 

"1. The infection of pigs ly trichinm has to he 
guarded against, I mention here that an originating 
of trichinae in pigs does not occur. Trichinae are pro- 
created like men, from father and mother. They 
multiply by legitimate progeny, and their being 
found in an animal presupposes infestation from 
without — ^. e.^ by means of food. 

"In all cases of prevention it is necessary to 
examine the food of the pigs, and to allow them 
no opportunity to devour refuse animal matters, as 
such matters are mostly trichina-infested meat, and 
excrements of individuals infested by trichinse, par- 
ticularly human excrements. Feeding of the pigs in 
sties scrupulously clean (which is really the interest 
of the owner) would give the greatest security, 
although of course infections by chance might not 
be precluded. 

'^Whether fattening on acorns in forests precludes 
infestation is not certain; experiences are wanting, 
and the fact that wild animals have had trichinae 
leaves presumed security questionable. 

"Careful farmers and raisers of animals will see 
the importance of the above suggestions. Most of 
the epidemics of trichina disease have occurred in 



276 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

districts of Saxony, where it is the rule to feed pigs 
in sties. We can only recommend the most scrupu- 
lous cleanliness. 

"2. All meat ought to he carefully/ examined. We 
said before there is no certain sign of trichina disease 
in pigs. Nothing will suffice but a careful investiga- 
tion of the meat. 

"Only in a few of those in which the trichinae is 
encapsuled and encrusted in lime is the investigation 
with the naked eye sufficient to detect their presence ; 
most cases require microscopic examination. 

" For this purpose, though the best instruments are 
preferable, they are not strictly necessary. Micro- 
scopes of medium magnifying power are sufficient; 
still I call attention to the fact that poor microscopes 
which pretend a large magnifying are less reliable 
than good instruments of much less power. I recom- 
mend to prepare the meat as already mentioned, and 
examine it with a low power; if any suspicious point 
be observed, it should be marked, and a higher power 
used to resolve it into its particulars. 

"Instruments which by their construction for the 
purpose of demonstration give a diffused light, do not 
give so sharp a view of the contour of a soft object 
as is desirable to the unpracticed observer. 

"The question arises, Who shall investigate the 
meat ? 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 277 

^'I reply: In cities an investigation of the meat 
should devolve upon the city authorities, and be 
done by selected physicians, veterinary surgeons, or 
others acquainted with natural science. 

"The most simple way in large cities is to have 
public slaughtering-houses. Much may be said in 
recommendation of these, irrespective of trichina 
meat, and they have been constructed in different 
places in Germany. By the employment of these 
houses a source of great uncleanliness in gutters, 
yards, and houses could be stopped. If a city has 
these, nothing is easier than to have a microscope 
there, and allow^ no pork to leave it for sale until, 
after proper examination of the meat, testimonials 
had been given of its wholesomeness. The chief in- 
vestigator should examine a part of several muscles 
of each animal, which can be done in ten minutes, 
and then give his testimonial of the case. 

"In small cities, where no slaughtering-houses 
exist, the appointed examiner should have an op- 
portunity to investigate the meat, and I do not doubt 
that this is everywhere possible. Even now the 
butchers at different places — Stedtein, Nordhausen — 
have made contracts with certain physicians, who 
on their part investigate the meat and attest to its 
purity. But this is not sufficient; for it should be 
undertaken not merely in the private interest of the 



278 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

butcher, but the public health and welfare is con- 
cerned; and for this the state should be, under the 
circumstances, responsible. 

"Besides cities, there are villages, country towns, 
hospitals, and other institutions, ships, etc., and 
nothing is easier than to find a suitable person, as a 
teacher or physician, a clergyman or the master of a 
ship, to become acquainted with the means of con- 
ducting such an investigation. On larger estates it 
is to be expected that the proprietor or his steward 
will have sufficient interest to convince himself of 
the purity of the meat his- workmen and families 
consume; and neither the labor or the price of the 
means of doing it can be deemed a ground of ob- 
jection in comparison with life and health. 

" Once more I point out that it is futile to say that 
the cases of disease are too infrequent to justify such 
expenditure of means to prevent it throughout the 
land, and indeed the world. What a single person 
will do for himself is his own affair; but the commu- 
nity is under obligation to prevent dangers which the 
single individual otherwise may in cases incur; and 
to assist those who may undesignedly be the means 
of endangering others, or where it is necessary to 
control them, that they may be under special requisi- 
tion to exercise their trade without injury to others. 
If a butcher of a cow is the cause, even unwittingly, 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 279 

of hundreds of persons falling sick, and some dying, 
he can not complain if he is controlled in the same 
way as a manufacturer who deals in dangerous chem- 
icals. 

"The worst is of the small country farmers who 
neither possess a microscope nor are in the neigh- 
borhood of any person who is qualified to make the 
examination ; but certainly the time will arrive when 
every teacher will possess a microscope. Till then 
the small proprietors can only be guarded against in- 
fection by being very careful about the preparation 
of their food. This point we will further dilate upon. 

"3. The pork should he cooked veri/ carefidly. In 
some places pork is eaten raw, scraped. I do not 
mean merely butchers and cooks, nor merely the use 
of scraped meat advised by physicians, since they 
prescribe not raw pork, but beef; but in some places 
it is a common habit to eat raw pork. In Burg a 
great many cases of disease and death were occa- 
sioned by people eating raw scraped meat on bread 
for breakfast; cases which are very striking, since 
sometimes in the same family single members who 
had eaten of the same meat cooked or fried which 
others that fell sick had eaten. 

"We must therefore recommend never to eat pork 
raw ; for even a microscopic investigation will never 
give an absolute guarantee, since single trichina may 



280 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

have been overlooked. And if even a few enter 
the body without ffital results it is still better to 
avoid all danger. Whoever wants to eat raw meat 
as a regimen or preference should eat beef or 
mutton. 

" But even the cooking of it does not aiford any 
security unless it is done carefully. In boiling, roast- 
ing, frying, or smoking, more or less of the meat may 
remain nearly raw, and therefore be dangerous. The 
greatest danger is from ham; especially since it is 
cured so rapidly. In this case the ham is either not 
at all smoked, or that for only so short a time that 
the greatest part of it remains fresh. Sometimes it 
is merely brushed over with creosote, wood-acid, or 
some other, which gives it the smoky taste, and is 
then offered for sale. If it contained trichinae they 
remain after this preparation of the meat entirely 
alive. 

"Formerly it was otherwise; then the pigs were 
killed in the fall; the hams were hung in the chim- 
ney or smoke-house, and remained there, to be eaten 
several months later. Under this treatment the tri- 
chinae are dead and harmless; but then the ham is 
dry and hard, and is not so savory. Our forefathers 
did not think this an evil. They knew that a person 
eats less of this ham, because one is satisfied with 
less of it. They had the same opinions as the people 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 281 

of Norway, who do not smoke their meat, but let it 
dry for six months or a year. 

" Such old-fashioned ham is not to be found in 
trade now-a-days. Even in Westphalia the new 
method is in use. The requirements of trade do 
not leave any on hand. 

"Whoever cures the ham which he will consume 
may allow it to remain as long as he pleases, to pre- 
clude all danger; and therefore in the country and 
in small cities, where families cure the hams they 
consume, less danger is to be apprehended; but those 
who buy hams have only two possibilities for security. 
They must have the ham investigated by a micro- 
scope; for this it is sufficient to cut out from dif- 
ferent places small pieces and have them examined, 
or they must use only well-boiled ham. In the 
southern part of Germany only cooked ham is con- 
sumed, which explains why until now but few cases 
of trichina disease have been known. Still they are 
not wholly wanting. I have several times found at 
Wurtzburg numerous encapsuled trichinae in human 
bodies, and in Tubingen and Heidelberg single cases 
have been repeatedly observed. 

"Next in danger to ham is pork sausage, specially 
ham sausage; liver and blood sausage should be ex- 
cepted, if they are carefully prepared. But some- 
times fine meat is mixed with the liver and blood, 

21 



282 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

and experience has shown that such sausages have 
caused severe disease (Dresden, Calbe, Burg). In 
Hettstadt it was the so-called head-cheese in which 
numerous trichinae were found. In the preparation 
of sausage a change similar to that in the preparation 
of hams has lately taken place. Formerly the sau- 
sage was boiled more to make sausage soup. The 
long sausage ("bratwurst") was longer fried, and the 
smoked sausage was longer smoked, and longer kept. 
But now-a-days, especially in cities where everything 
is ready-made for sale, everything has to be made 
very fast; and sausage has to be fresher or rawer, 
and more savory, for such is the taste of the con- 
sumer. Accordingly it is easily understood that 
since the preparation of sausage has ceased to be a 
domestic work, and come into the hands of trades- 
men, the danger has increased; and this fact may 
explain what seems so astonishing to the public; 
viz., that the trichina disease is so frequent now, if 
we admit that it is now more frequent than formerly. 
"But such danger was unexpected. According to 
an account of Dr. Bupprecht, in Hettstadt sausage 
was prepared as follows : The pork and its rind were 
boiled from one and a half to two hours in a kettle, 
and was then minced and filled; the sausage was 
then boiled from one half to three quarters of an 
hour. A portion of this sausage, fried in a pan until 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 283 

the fat drained off, was eaten by a family of five per- 
sons. All of these persons soon fell sick, and one, a 
young boy, died. It was ascertained that no more 
of the diseased pig had been eaten by them. 

"It is easy to understand that after this and 
similar experience the population of Hettstadt were 
panic-stricken, and the municipality, as well as the 
administration in Merseburg, announced publicly that 
even boiling of the pork afforded no security. 

"I will return to this point presently, but meantime 
remark that Dr. W. MuUer ascertained on inquiry 
that in making the sausage of the boiled meat and 
rind, raw minced meat was added; and the sausage 
was afterward scalded, but not really boiled. These 
facts suffice to show the insecurity of eating sausage, 
especially pork, of which it is not known to the con- 
sumer how it was prepared. And the question arises 
whether the so-called sausage-poison, as in the case 
of ham-poison, can not be explained by the presence 
of trichinse. 

"In Swabia many cases of poisoning by sausage 
have been recorded, wherein chemical analysis failed 
to detect any poison. But I revert to the boiling 
and roasting. It is certain that a trichina exposed 
to the boiling point, 80° Heamur, invariably dies. 
This is even the case in a temperature which will 
coairulate the white of an egg— 50° to 60° Reamur. 



284 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

But it is equally certain that frequently the former 
temperature is not reached in boiling and roasting, or 
if reached, not the whole of the meat is exposed to 
it. This is certainly the case when large pieces are 
boiled or roasted ) and we even see in cut slices that 
some is half or wholly raw. The blood and albumen 
have not coagulated as in the case of boiling heat. 
The parts are yet soft, fresh, and red. The same is 
the case of chops. There can be no doubt that the 
trichinae in the inner part of the meat have not been 
reached by a killing temperature ; and by such broil- 
ing, roasting, or frying the danger is not prevented. 

"About these relations (of heat to animal life) 
direct experiments have been made. Kuchenmeister 
found that large pieces of meat wdiich had been put 
in a kettle after a boiling of half an hour attained a 
.temperature of 48° Reamur. Inside it had only 44°. 
After boiling longer than half an hour, the meat had 
a temperature of 62° to 64° outwardly; and after 
being cut up and put to boil they attained inside, 
after one hour's boiling, a temperature of from 59° 
to 60°; fried sausage and chops reached a tempera- 
ture of 50° ; Frankfort sausage, 51° ; roast pork, 
which was inside bloody, had 52° Reamur. These 
numbers are not fixed for all cases, and it will often 
happen that the temperature of the meat and sausage 
remains several degrees under these stated numbers. 



I 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 285 

" Fiedler found that trichinae can bear a tempera- 
ture of from 30° to 40° Reamur, and that even in 
that of 50° to 52° Reamur they do not die imme- 
diately, although they may not live long afterward. 

" From this record it is evident that the common 
boiling or frying of sausages, as well as the prepara- 
tion of chops and rare-roasted pork, scarcely reaches 
the temperature which will kill the trichinae. I con- 
clude with the results of trials which Kuchenmeister, 
in conjunction with Huebner and Liesering, made. 

'^1. The trichinae are killed by longer immersion 
in brine of the meat, and by twenty-four hours' hot 
smoking of sausages. 

"2. They are not killed by three days' cold 
smoking, and it seems the boiling of meat for 
making sausages does not certainly kill them. 

"3. A long-keeping of cold smoked sausages seems 
to destroy the life of the trichina. 

"Let every one now reflect how the foregoing facts 
shall influence him. My task was not so much to 
cause fear and to agitate the community more than it 
already is, but rather to show the means of shielding 
themselves from unquestionable danger." 

The foregoing may be very properly and profitably 
added to the remarks of Professor Dalton, of New 
York, as it strengthens and corroborates the views 
and observations of Virchow already so extensively 



286 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

quoted. Surely no one will hesitate to accept the 
testimony furnished by the observations of men of so 
much wisdom and experience, and whose fame ex- 
tends to all countries where science is cultivated. 

Professor Dalton's views on the subject of preven- 
tion are as follows : 

"There still remains one question of a very im- 
portant nature — How great is the liability of the 
community at the present time to be infected, and 
what measures can be taken to prevent it? 

"The pig seems to be the animal naturally the 
most liable to trichinosis. He is certainly more 
liable to this disease than any other animal used for 
food, neither the sheep nor the ox being subject to it. 
It has been found in this country, by investigations 
in Chicago in 1866, that of all the pigs brought to 
market in that city one in fifty is infected with tri- 
chinae. This shows that we are all in danger of 
becoming infected by the use of pork, unless meas- 
ures be taken in preparing the meat to destroy the 
vitality of the worms. Smoking and salting will not 
do this effectually. Only thorough cooking is to be f | 
relied on as a safeguard. It is remarkable that most 
if not all of the cases of trichinosis in this country 
thus far have occurred among the Germans. This is 
because they have the habit, not otherwise common 
here, of eating ham, sausages, and even sometimes 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 287 

fresh pork, nearly or quite in the uncooked state. To 
kill the worms the ham must not only be salted and 
smoked, but cooked, and cooked thoroughly. Now 
if you bear in mind that one pig in fifty is infected 
with trichinae, you will perhaps think many times 
before putting between your lips a piece of pork 
or ham or sausage in the raw state; you will be 
certain that it is cooked; and not only that, but 
thoroughly cooked. One of the worst cases- of tri- 
chinosis that has come under my observation was 
caused by eating pork-chops which were rare or 
slightly underdone. Now these chops were prob- 
ably well enough cooked on the outside; but on the 
inside they were red and juicy, and the danger was 
precisely the same as if the patient had taken the 
meat entirely raw. In order to destroy the vitality 
of the trichina, the meat should be subjected to a 
temperature of 212° F. Now if you boilra. ham for 
half an hour, or even an hour, you doV^iecessarily 
subject all parts of it to this temperature. In the 
central parts of the ham the temperature will not 
rise to that point unless the boiling has been long 
continued. I speak of this particularly, as it is a 
very important matter. A temperature of less than 
170° F. does not destroy the trichinae. As shown 
by direct experiment, therefore, a piece of trichinous 
meat, any part of which has not been raised to or 



288 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

above this point, is just a« dangerous as if it were 
taken in the raw state. 

"These are the chief points of importance in 
regard to the trichinae and trichinosis. The dis- 
ease is fatal enough, frequent enough, and revolting 
enough to induce us to take all possible measures to 
prevent it, and I do not think anything is sufficient 
for this but a personal examination of every piece of 
pork, ham, bacon, or sausage used as food, to see that 
every part of it has been subjected to a thorough 
cooking process. 

"There are other points of considerable interest 
with regard to the rapidity with which the human 
subject may be infected, the great number of persons 
who may become infected by eating the product of a 
single slaughtered animal, and the degree of fatality 
attending the disease. Enough, however, is known 
to convince us that the aifection is a very frequent 
one, and liable to be exceedingly fatal, or if not fatal, 
to produce prolonged and exhausting disease. 

"Much would be effected if all pork offered for 
sale in the market could be subjected to inspection; 
and this has been done in some parts of Germany. 
Pork being liable to infection not only with trichinae, 
but also with cysticercus, producing tape-worm in _ 
the human subject, such inspection would undoubt- " 
edly prove very useful. Still it would not afford 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 289 

complete protection unless carried out with an amount 
of detail which would in all probability prove practi- 
cally unattainable. The only absolute protection 
therefore must be that exercised by the individual 
himself. He must see that he never uses for food 
any kind or preparation of pork in any form not so 
thoroughly cooked as to destroy every possible vestige 
of parasitic life. 

There can be but little doubt that persons have 
been infested by these parasites, and have sickened 
and died, and the cause of death wholly unrecog- 
nized. The symptoms attending infestation by tri- 
chinae are in many respects similar to those of 
rheumatism, typhoid fever, and other diseases, and 
can easily be mistaken for one or the other of these 
ailments. No one can contemplate without a shud- 
der the terrible suffering of a person infested by 
millions of these little animals boring away at his 
very vitals. How important, in view of all that has 
been said on this exceedingly important subject, that 
every hog-raiser in particular should use every pre- 
caution to prevent the spread of trichinae. Much 
may be done to prevent their spread. A recapitu- 
lation of the means best calculated to accomplish 
this will close this chapter. 

1. Let every animal substance be burned or de- 
stroyed, so that hogs may not be able to get it to 

25 



290 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

eat; such as fowls, moles, cats, rabbits, and in par- 
ticular other hogs that have died either by accident 
or disease. 

2. Do not allow hogs to eat the excrements of 
other hogs or those of the human being, for in this 
way they may become infested. 

3. In regard to flesh eaten by man none is per- 
haps to be feared except the flesh of the hog. Still 
carefulness in regard to eating the flesh of any 
animal raw should be observed. 

4. The only safety^ hy the general agreement of all 
observers, is to thoroughly cook the flesh, whether it 
he fresh or salted. This applies particularly to hog 
meat. 

6. The trichina is exceedingly hard to kill, and 
no degree of heat short of 170° F, will he certairi to 
destroy them, and this will not do it unless it is kept 
up till the meat is cooked through and through, as the 
muscular trichinae may be lodged deep down in the 
muscles. 

6. Salting and smoking of the meat can not be 
relied upon to destroy them; hence raw ham, how- 
ever well salted and smoked, should never be eaten 
under any circumstances. 

7. Sausages should be very carefully and thor- 
oughly cooked, as many of the cases of disease 
have been traced to eating this article. Not the 



TRICHINA SPIRALIS. 291 

smallest particle should be allowed to enter the 
mouth while the sausage is being made, for a very 
small particle, even so small as not to attract atten- 
tion, may contain a great number of trichinae. 

8. It is believed that one pig out of every fifty is 
infested; therefore there is constant danger of be- 
coming trichinosed, as one trichinosed pig is suffi- 
cient to infest a whole neighborhood of both animals 
and men. 

9. As has been shown, the lungs of both diseased 
and apparently healthy hogs are frequently found to 
contain trichinae. They should never be allowed to 
be eaten either by animals or human beings, but 
should be destroyed or buried where they can not be 
gotten by dogs or hogs. 

10. Whenever there is the slightest suspicion that 
a piece of meat is infested, it should, if possible, be 
examined with the microscope. 

The foregoing synopsis is believed to contain the 
essential matters to be observed. It is hoped that 
the discussion of this important subject may result 
in a more correct understanding of what the trichina 
really is, and thus lead to more carefulness on the 
part of the raiser and consumer of the hog. 

The author can not conclude this chapter without 
an expression of his thanks to Dr. J. D. Jackson, of 
Kentucky, Prof. John C. Dalton, of New York, and 



292 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

more particularly to Prof. Virchow, of Berlin, Prus- 
sia, and to the able translator of Virchow's "Life 
of the Trichina," Rufus King Brown, M. D., of New 
York, from whose translation extensive quotations 
have been made. 



MEDICINES. 293 



CHAPTER XVL 

MEDICINES. 

The indiscriminate use of medicines in the treat- 
ment of the diseases of our domesticated animals is 
greatly to be deplored. 

The most absurd mixtures and compounds are 
given the poor animals, some of which contain not 
only poisonous articles, but also medicines which are 
wholly incompatible. This is particularly true in 
regard to some of the compounds sold as specifics 
for hog cholera, concocted by persons wholly unac- 
quainted with the properties of the medicines which 
they prescribe. The venders of these specifics will 
gravely affirm that these compounds contain articles 
hitherto unknown, and that they have never been 
known to fail to cure hog cholera — ^it matters not how 
bad the case. It is to be deplored that hog-raisers 
are but too willing to be duped by these sharpers. 
Men wise enough in regard to other matters suffer 
themselves to be overreached in this. Thousands of 
hogs are killed annually by these villainous com- 
pounds. The writer knows whereof he affirms, 



294 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 



1 



having repeatedly seen and tested many of these 
vaunted cures. These medicine-venders do much 
harm, and particularly by preventing the farmers 
from looking into the cause of the malady, and by 
determining this to remove it. They too readily 
give heed to the exaggerated accounts of cures by 
these quacks. So they content themselves with 
buying the medicine, and depending upon it, for it is 
easier to do that than give themselves the trouble to 
examine and determine the cause of the disease; 
thus they lose their money and their hogs also. Let 
the farmer reflect that no one medicine or specific 
can be depended upon to cure hog cholera, and the 
sooner this is learned the better. It ought to strike 
every thinking man that no single remedy can be 
applicable to the treatment of even the same disease 
in all its stages, and in all conditions of the animal. 

The treatment must of necessity be varied to suit 
the conditions of the animal, and the stage of the 
disease in which he is found to be laboring. Since 
in the disease called hog cholera we have some cases 
in which diarrhea is a prominent symptom, and others 
in which exactly the opposite conditions obtain, it is 
folly to suppose that the same remedy will suit both 
conditions. In some cases we have a high grade of 
inflammation, in which case we must use such medi- 
cine as will combat that state of things. In other 



MEDICINES. 295 

cases there is great debility — loss of power. In such 
cases tonics and food of a nourishing and even stimu- 
lating kind are called for. Let the farmer exercise 
a little common sense in this matter, and all will be 
well. 

The object of this chapter is to give in a condensed 
and convenient form the most reliable remedies, ac- 
companied with a short account of the action of each 
article and recipe. 

It is intended to make this chapter very practical 
and plain. Only such medicines as are easily ob- 
tained, and at the same time cheap, and easily 
administered, will be given. As hog cholera has 
received by far the most attention, and as the author 
believes deservedly so, he proposes to begin with the 
remedies most relied upon for the cure of that disease 
first, but begs again to remind the reader that his 
chief reliance for doing away with that terrible dis- 
ease depends mainly upon the proper management of 
the hog rather than upon any medicines that may be 
given, let them be ever so good. But much may be 
done to relieve the sick animals, and even to cure 
them. The following remedies have been tested, and 
are the best that have yet been suggested. 

Let us now enumerate the remedies which have 
proven most successful in the treatment of hog 
cholera, which is considered of chief importance. 



296 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

The reader should examine carefully the chapter on 
the treatment of the disease, particularly respecting 
the measures there recommended as preventive means, 
for they are of the greatest importance. In addition 
to the means already recommended, the state of the 
bowels, kidneys, skin, and the cough should be care- 
fully noted before any medicine is given. 

1. For common diarrhea the following will generally be 
sufficient : 

Pulverized charcoal . . . i pound. 

Carbonate of soda ^ . . . ^ pound. 
Dose table-spoonful, given three times a day, in milk or 
bran-mash. 

2. In unusually severe cases of diarrhea give the following : 

Creosote i ounce. 

Laudanum . . . . .4 ounces. 

Bicarbonate of soda . . . ^ pound. 

Flaxseed-tea 1 gallon. 

Mix, and give a table-spoonful three or four times a day. 

3. The following recipe is copied from Youatt, and is one 
of the best for simple diarrhea; viz.: 

Prepared chalk .... 1 ounce. 

Powdered catechu . . . . ^ ounce. 

Powdered ginger .... 2 drachms. 

Powdered opium . . . . ^ drachm. 
Mix and dissolve in half a pint of peppermint-water. Dose, 
from one to two table-spoonfuls; should be given twice a 
day, and strict attention paid to diet. 

4. "When the bowels are slightly costive, and a simple 
purgative is desired, use the following: 

Epsom salts i pound. 

Nitrate of potash . . . .2 ounces. 
Flaxseed-tea .... 1 gallon. 

Mix in slop, and give freely until the bowels are relieved. 



MEDICINES. 297 

5. When the bowels are very costive, and especially when 
the dung passes in hard lumps, from half a pint to a pint 
and a half of strong soap-suds, milk warm, should be thrown 
into the bowels by injection j this will dissolve the hardened 
matter and relieve the gut. And give the following purga- 
tive twice a day until relieved : Castor-oil, from one to two 
ounces. 

6. If there is cough or difficult breathing, give the fol- 
lowing : Muriate of ammonia or nitrate of potash, in table- 
spoonful doses. Give three or four times a day. 

7. For inflammation of the kidneys or bladder, which 
may be known by the small quantity and high color of the 
urine, give the following: 

Nitrate of potash . ... J pound. 
Flaxseed-tea .... 3 gallons. 

Give freely in milk or slop. 

8. For inflammation of the bowels and lining membrane 
of the belly (peritonitis) give the following purgative: 

Castor-oil 1 ounce. 

Spirits of turpentine . . . . I ounce. 
Give in milk twice a day. 

9. For worms in the kidneys give the following : Cop- 
peras in tea-spoonful doses, twice a day, in slop or meal ; or 
spirits of turpentine, in tea-spoonful doses, twice a day, in 
milk. 

10. For worms in the bowels give the following: Spirits 
of turpentine. Dose, a tea-spoonful. Give three times a 
day, in milk. 

Or calomel. Dose, from forty to sixty grains. Give at 
night, in corn-meal ; and in the morning give a brisk purge 
of castor-oil or Epsom salts. Eepeat as often as necessary. 

Or worm-seed. This medicine is familiar to almost every 
one, and is one of the best ; it may be given in decoction or 
in the form of oil. The decoction may be made as follows : 
Worm-seed (bruised), one pound; water, two gallons. Boil 
down to one gallon, in a covered vessel; mix the decoction 
with four gallons of milk. Sufficient for twelve hogs. 



298 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

Or common salt, 1 part; ashes of hickory-wood, 2 parts. 
Let this be kept constantly by the herd, so that they may 
take of it at pleasure. 

11. For tape-worm give the following: 

Pumpkin-seed 2 pounds. 

Hot water 1 gallon. 

Eub in a mortar until a creamy or rather consistent mixture 
is formed. This should be given freely; can not well give 
too much. It has much reputation in the destruction of the 
tape-worm. 

12. For quinsy, muriate of ammonia, a table-spoonful 
every four or five hours. Blue-stone (sulphate of copper) 
is said to be good given in small tea-spoonful doses. 

13. For the destruction of lice use the following: Mer- 
curial ointment or sulphur ointment. Either of these well 
rubbed on the surface once or twice will sufiice. 

14. For mange : Mercurial ointment, 4 drachms ; sulphur, 
4 ounces. Make into an ointment and rub on. 

A simple means, which has proven to he an excel- 
lent preventive to any kind of bowel disease, and 
especially when cholera is prevalent, is the following : 

Provide a tub or barrel which will contain say forty gal- 
lons ; into this let the suds of the wash-room and the kitchen 
slops be poured, and to this add : Wood-ashes, J gallon, or 
soda, 1 pint ; soft-soap, i gallon ; copperas, J pound ; com- 
mon salt, IJ pints; pulverized charcoal, 3 pounds. Wheat- 
bran or corn-meal a sufl&cient quantity to make a tolerably 
consistent slop. 

This may he given three times a week. At first it 
may not be relished, hut the hogs will soon become 
fond of it, and even eat it greedily. This will, with 
other proper attention to cleanhness, protection from 



i 



MEDICINES. 299 

cold, dustj etc., generally be sufficient to keep the 
herd healthy ; by it the digestion is improved, worms 
in the stomach and bowels will be destroyed, and the 
skin kept in good order. 

Among the medicines that have been used by the 
farmers for cholera, and vaunted as certain cures, are 
the following: Arsenic, catechu, calomel, coal-oil, 
madder, indigo, logwood, sulphur, turpentine, nitrate 
of potash, soda, potash, etc. 

Calomel and worm-seed, combined with some simple 
ingredients to prevent detection, and put up in hquid 
form, has been extensively sold in some localities at 
ten dollars per gallon. A composition of arsenic, 
blue-stone (sulphate of copper), and powdered poke- 
root has been extensively advertised and sold at five 
dollars a pound. This last compound is a very dan- 
gerous one, and has no doubt killed its hundreds. 

This one is better, and less dangerous: Black 
sulphur et of antimony, sulphur, and soda or potash. 
This medicine has been sold at the moderate (?) price 
of two to three dollars per pound. The following 
recipe has been extensively sold at from five to 
twenty-five dollars: Calomel, worm-seed, black 
antimony, and sulphur. These ingredients to be 
mixed together, and given in the food. 

The prices asked and obtained for the above 
recipes are simply outrageous; all the medicines of 



300 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

which they are composed are very cheap, ranging 
from three cents to twenty-five cents a pound, and 
thus the farmer is imposed upon without getting 
the benefits he had a right to expect from the 
representations made by the venders of them. 

A LIST OF MEDICINES. 

Aloes. — This is a purgative, and for this purpose alone is 
it used for animals. Dose from twenty to forty grains. 

Arsenic. — Given for skin diseases and worms. Should 
be given with great caution. Dose from five to ten grains. 

Alum. — An astringent, not often used for diseases of the 
hog. Dose, five to ten grains. 

Antimony. — Only one of the preparations of this medi- 
cine is used for the hog — the black sulphuret. It acts on 
the skin and allays fever. Dose from one to two drachms. 

Calomel. — Acts on the liver, and in large doses is a 
purgative. Dose from twenty to sixty grains. 

Catechu. — An astringent, used for diarrhea. Dose from 
ten to forty grains. 

Charcoal. — Used as a disinfectant, and for diarrhea, etc. 

Chalk, Prepared. — Sour stomach and diarrhea. 

GriNGER. — A stimulant, used for colic, diarrhea, etc. Dose, 
a tea-spoonful. 

Indigo. — For worms. Tonic. 

Iron Sulphate. — Tonic. Dose from five to ten grains. 

Jalap. — A purgative. Dose ten to forty grains. 

Logwood. — An astringent, used occasionally for dysentery 
and diarrhea. Dose ten to twenty grains. 

Madder. — Action not certainly known. Dose ten to forty 
grains. 

Mercurial Ointment. — Used as an external application 
to destroy lice, and for diseases of the skin. 

Muriate Ammonia.— An excellent medicine. Acts on the 



MEDICINES. 301 

glands, on the kidneys, and on the skin, and is one of our 
best remedies for coughs. 

Oil, Castor. — An excellent purgative. Dose from one to 
two ounces. 

Oil, Worm-seed. — A destroyer of worms. Dose, half a 
table-spoonful. 

Oil, Sweet. — Used in making ointments. 

Opium. — Used to allay pain and check diarrhea. Dose, 
one to three grains. 

Potash, Nitrate. — Acts on the skin and kidneys, and 
allays pain. A most excellent remedy. 

Potash, Sulphate or Acetate. — Acts on the skin and 
kidneys. 

Salts, Epsom. — An excellent cooling purgative. Dose 
from half an ounce to an ounce. 

Soda, Bicarbonate. — For acidity of stomach and bowels. 
Dose from a tea-spoonful to half a table-spoonful. 

Sulphur. — Acts on the skin, and used for the destruction 
of lice and other skin diseases. 

Turpentine, Spirits or Oil. — Acts as a purgative, and 
also upon the kidneys ; used for a variety of purposes. 

Worm-seed. — Well known as a destroyer of worms. May 
be given in powder or decoction. 

The above list comprises nearly all the medicines 
used in the diseases of the hog, and it is not thought 
profitable to extend it. Other remedies may be found 
in the body of the work. 

Of all our domesticated animals the hog is perhaps 
the easiest to administer medicine to. He is an all- 
eating animal, and will readily eat almost anything 
in milk or good slops. It is usually best to have all 
of the food well cooked that is eaten while taking 
the medicine, and for some days afterward, as it is 



302 TREATISE ON THE HOG. 

much easier digested; and in this way it greatly aids 
the action of the medicine. 

It is poor economy to neglect sick hogs until they 
refuse to eat; but when this is the case, if they are 
at all familiar with the slop trough, they will often 
drink sour buttermilk when everything else is re- 
fused, and in this way medicine may be given. But 
when the hog refuses to eat and a drench is resorted 
to, instead of setting the hog on end or turning him 
on his back, and a stick put into his mouth, and then 
pouring the medicine down him, sometimes into his 
stomach and sometimes into his windpipe, and in this 
way strangling the hog instantly, which is often done, 
take a cord of sufficient strength, loop it around the 
upper jaw above the tusk, see that the tongue is not 
fast in the cord, draw the cord over a pole placed 
overhead for the purpose, and elevate the head so 
that the medicine will not run out of the hog's mouth, 
but not high enough to lift his fore feet off the ground. 
When you have got him thus confined, and after he 
has quit struggling, give the medicine. But be care- 
ful not to put more in his mouth at a time than he 
can swallow. The animal can not swallow with any 
certainty when he is in the act of squealing or with 
his mouth propped open. 



GLOSSARY. 



There are many words which are not generally understood, and which it was found 
necessary to use, and particularly is this true of the reports of physicians, and the quota- 
tions which it was necessary to make from the writings of others. In order that the 
reader might have at hand a short explanation of these words and phrases, which he 
may have trouble in readily understanding, the aiithor has given this short dictionary for 
the convenience of his readers. 

Abdomen — The belly. 

Abdominal — Pertaining to the abdomen. 

Abortion — Miscarriage, or throwing oflT prematurely. 

Abscess — A swelling or cavity containing pus or matter. 

Absorb — To drink in, to suck up, as a sponge. 

Absorbents — Vessels which absorb or take up. 

AcARUS ScABii — An insect not visible to the naked eye ; itch insect. 

Acid — Sour. 

Acid, Acetic — An acid composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. 

Acid, Hydrochloric — Is muriatic acid and a compound of chlorine and 

hydrogen gas. 
Acute — A disease which, with a certain degree of severity, has a rapid 

progress and short duration is said to be " acute." 
Adipose — That which relates to fat. 
Adhere — To stick to, or adhere. 
Adherent — Sticking to, or adhering to. 
Adventitious — Accidental. 

Aeration — To expose to the air, as the blood in the lungs. 
Air-cells — Small cavities or cells containing air. 
Albumen — A substance which enters into the composition of all 

animals and vegetables, and is the chief part of the white of eggs. 
Aliment — Food, nourishment. 

Alimentary Canal — The alimentary tube, or bowels. 
Alkali — Opposite of an acid ; potash, ammonia, and soda are alkalis. 
Anatomy — A description of the body. 
Anatomist — One versed in anatomy. 
Analogous — Having some resemblance. 
Anterior — Before, or in front. 

(303) 



304 GLOSSARY. 

Anus — The opening at the lower end of the large gut, through which 

the excrements pass out of the bowels. 
AoETA — The great artery which proceeds from the left side of the heart 

through which the pure blood goes out to every part of the body. 
Arterial — Pertaining to the arteries. 
AscARiDES — A small intestinal worm which infests particularly the 

lower bowel. 
Astringent — Having the power to draw up or contract the flesh. 
Attachments — That by which one thing is attached to another. 
Atrophy — Wasting or shrinking. 
Auricles — The upper cavities of the heart. 
Avidity — Greediness, strong appetite. 
Bacchus — The god of wine. 

Bile — A yellow, greenish, viscid, bitter fluid secreted by the liver. 
Bile-ducts — Tubes which convey the bile from the liver to the bowels. 
Breeding, in and in — Male and female near of kin breeding together. 
Bowels — The intestines. 

Bronchia — The subdivisions of the windpipe in the lungs. 
Bronchial — Pertaining to the bronchia. 
Bronchial Tubes — Tubes through which the air is carried to the lungs. 
Bronchial Arteries — Arteries of the bronchia. 
Bronchial Glands — Small bodies in and around the bronchial tubes. 
Bronchial Membrane — Mucous membrane lining the bronchial tubes. 
Bronchitis — Inflammation of the mucous membrane of bronchial tubes. 
Cadaverous — Having the appearance of a dead body. 
Caliber — The diameter of a body or tube. 
Canthus — The corner or angle of the eye. 

Capillary — Small, hair-like blood-vessels, between arteries and veins. 
Capsule — Inclosed as in a box or sac. 
CoRDiA — The heart, upper orifice of the stomach. 
Carnivorous — Flesh-eating ; animals that eat flesh. 
Cartilage — Gristle, a smooth substance softer than bone, and covering 

the ends of the bones. 
Cavity — A hollow or open space. 
Cellular — Consisting of cells. 
Cellular Tissue — The connecting substance between the skin and the 

muscles, and between the muscles. 
Ceres — A heathen goddess. 

Chest — The body from the neck to the diaphragm. 
Chronic — Disease of long standing, following the acute stage. 
Chyme — A kind of grayish pulp formed by the food after it has been 

for some time in the stomach. 
Coagulate— ^To clot or thicken, or become like jellv. 



1 



GLOSSARY. 305 

Cocoon — An oblong case constructed by an insect to contain its larve. 

Cohesion — The act of sticking together. 

Collapsed — Fallen together, closed. 

Colon — The large intestine or gut. 

Cone — A round body tapering to a point, like a sugar-loaf. 

Concavity — Hollowness ; internal surface of a hollow, spherical body. 

Conception — The act of conceiving or getting with young. 

Constipation — Filling to hardness the intestines; defective excretion. 

Contagion — Diseases which spread by inhalation or contact, as small- 
pox, measles, etc. 

Contaminate — To corrupt, pollute, or poison. 

Contiguous — Touching, meeting, or joining, etc. 

Convex — Rising on the outer surface, as a cylinder or round body. 

Convulsion — Violent contractions of the muscles ; spasm. 

Corrugate — To wrinkle. 

Covert — A thicket or hiding-place. 

Cranium — The skull. 

Curved — Bending, irregular. 

Cuticle — The outer skin. 

Cycle — A round of years or period of time. 

Cylindrical — Having the form of a cylinder. 

Cyst — A bag or tunic. 

Debility — Weakness, feebleness. 

Defluxion — A discharge of any kind. 

Deteriorated — Impaired, made worse. 

Diaphragm — A muscle separating the chest from the belly. 

Digestion — To dissolve the food in the stomach. 

Disinfectant — An agent for removing infection. 

Disk — Any body inclining to an oval figure. 

Domesticate — To tame or make gentle. 

Drastic — Acting with violence. Some medicines are called drastic 
purgatives. 

Ducts — Tubes which convey fluids from one part of the body to another. 

Duodenum — The first section of the intestines. 

EcHENORHiNic — A worm found in the liver and spleen. 

Elongated — Lengthened. 

Emaciation — Lean or thin in flesh. 

Emanate — To issue from. 

Emolient — To soften; to relax parts that are inflamed or too tense. 

Encapsulated — Inclosed in a sac or cyst. 

Endocardium — The inside of the heart. 

Enemas — Injections. 

Engender — To beget, to cause to exist. 

26 



306 GLOSSARY. 

Engorgement — The state of being full, congested. 

Epicure — One who indulges in the luxuries of the table. 

Epidemics — Diseases generally prevalent, but not dependent upon any 
local or known cause. 

JEpigenesis — A new formation. 

Epiglotis — A cartilaginous substance, oval in form, which closes down 
upon the glotis while swallowing. 

Epiploon — The caul or omentum. 

Epizootic — An epidemic amongst animals. 

Eradicate — To destroy, put out of existence. 

Eruption — The act of breaking out or bursting forth. 

Excrement — Matter ejected or discharged from the body. 

Excrementitious — Pertaining to the excrements. 

Evacuate — To discharge or void from the bowels. 

EcECAL — Consisting of the dregs, matter discharged from the bowels. 

Earrow — To bring forth pigs. 

Fasciculus — A bundle, as a bundle of muscular fibers. 

F^CES — The excrements, the dregs of anything. 

Fertility — Fruitfulness, the quality of producing in abundance. 

Fibrin — A substance contained in the blood; it is white, and one of the 
solid constituents of the blood. 

Fibrinous — Like fibrin. 

Fibrous — Composed of fibers or thread-like substances. 

Fibrous Membrane — Membrane composed of fibers. 

Fissure — An opening or crevice. 

Flaccid — Soft, weak, lax, yielding. 

Flexible — To bend, to yield, elastic. 

Florid — Ked or scarlet-like. 

Frescoes — Cool, shady, duskiness. 

Fundament — Termination of the rectum, the anus. 

Gangrene — To mortify. 

Gangrenous — Mortification of the flesh. 

Gastric — Belonging to the stomach. 

Gastric Juice — A fluid produced by secretion in the mucous membrane 
of the stomach. 

Generate — To beget, to propagate, to produce. 

Genitals — The generative organs. 

Genial — Native, natural, agreeable. 

Gestation — The act of carrying the young in the womb from concep- 
tion to delivery ; pregnancy. 

Gland — A soft body or lump which secretes fluid. 

Glandular — Like a gland. 

Globule — Small, round bodies. 



GLOSSARY. 307 

Geanulate — To form into small, grain-like particles. 

Gregarious — Living in flocks or herds; cattle, sheep, and hogs are 

gregarious animals. 
Heaves — To pant, to breathe laboriously ; throbbing of the sides. 
Hemorrhage — Bleeding from a cut or injury, or from any of the organs 

of the body. 
Hepatize — Consolidate, liver-like. 

Herbivorous — Animals that live on herbs are herbivorous animals. 
Herd — A collection of animals when feeding or driven together. 
Hereditary — Inherited from parents ; some diseases are hereditary. 
Heterogeneous — Mixed. 
Hue — Color. 

Hygiene — Healthy, the act of preserving health. 
Ignore — To appear to be ignorant. 
Imperative — Commanding, positive. 
Incision — Cut ; a division of soft part with a knife. 
Incisor — A front tooth,. cutter. 
Indented — Depressed, cut into points like teeth. 
Injection — Liquids thrown into the body by a syringe. 
Infection — To poison by contact. 
Infiltrate — To penetrate the body through the pores, or directly 

through the tissues. 
Inoculation — To ingraft; any operation by which small-pox, for 

example, may be artificially communicated. 
Insidious — Deceitful, sly. 
Instinct — The law that teaches all animals the art of self-protection 

and preservation. 
Intestines — The bowels. 

Intestinal Canal — The canal through the bowels. 
Ire — Anger, passion. 
Irritate — To excite, to inflame, redness. 
Jejunum — The second section of the small bowels. 
Jungles — Undergrowth, high grass. 
Lacteal — A tube for carrying the chyle. 
Languor — Dullness, inactivity. 

Larynx — Upper part of the windpipe, which contains the vocal chords. 
Lassitude — "Weakness, dullness. 
Leprosy — A disease of the skin. 
Ligaments — Anything that ties or binds one thing to another. The 

ligaments bind the joints together. 
Lobe — A part or division of the lungs or liver. ^ 
Lubricate — To make smooth or slippery. 
Lungs — The organs of respiration ; in common language, lights. 



308 GLOSSARY, 

Malady — Sickness or disease. 

Masticate — To chew or grind up between the teeth. 

Maw — The stomach, paunch. 

Maxillary — Pertaining to the jaw, as the upper and lower maxillary 
bone. 

Mediastinum — The division between the lungs. 

Membrane — Thin, web-like sheet of tissue. 

Menace — To threaten, to deter. 

Molar — Grinder, a double tooth. 

Morbid — Unhealthy, diseased. 

Mortality — Subject to death. 

Mortification — The loss of vitality in any part of the body. 

Mucus — The secretion of the mucous surfaces, as the nose. 

Muscle — The fleshy portion of the body. 

Murky — Dark, obscure, gloomy. 

Mystery — Hidden, obscure. 

Nasal — Pertaining to the nose. 

Nasal Cavity — The cavity of the nose. 

Nasal Catarrh — A chronic affection of the nasal cavity. 

Naturalist — One versed in natural history. 

Nauseate — To sicken, disgust. 

Nerves — Organs of sensation and motion in animals. 

Neutralize — In chemistry, to make inert. 

Normal — Regular, healthy, natural. 

Nutriment — Pood, nourishment. 

Nutritious — Possessing the power of nourishing, 

(Esophagus — The gullet, the tube leading from mouth to stomach. 

Oleaginous — Having the quality of oil. 

Olfactory — The nerve of smell. 

Omentum — The membranous covering of the bowels. 

Opaque — ^^Dark, obscure. 
VARY — The ovaries are the organs where the ova or eggs are formed in 

?eporous animals. 
A.IDE — A combination not acid of a simple body with oxygen. 

Oxidation — The act of combining with oxygen. 

Oxygen — A colorless gas in water and air. 

Pachydermita — Thick-skinned, an order of animals such as the ele- 
phant, rhinoceros, and the hog. 

Pageant — Show, display. 

Pallid — Pale, wan, deficient in color, not high-colored. 

Palisade — To surround, inclose, or fortifj' with sticks or posts. 

Pancreas — A gland situated in the abdomen, and lying across the 
backbone. 



GLOSSARY. 809 

Papella — An eminence similar to a nipple. They are found on the 

tongue, the skin, etc. 
Paralysis — Loss of power, palsy. 
Parchment — Skin of a sheep or goat, dressed or prepared and made 

fit for writing on. 
Parturition — The act of bringing forth or being delivered of young. 
Pericardium — The sac which incloses the heart. 
Peregrinations — Traveling from one point to another 
Perioste^um — A membrane surrounding the bones of animals. 
Peritoneum — A thin, smooth membrane investing the whole of the 

intestinal surface and abdomen. 
Peritonitis — Inflammation of the peritoneum. 
Pharynx — The upper portion of the oesophagus. 
Physiology — The science of life, or the functions of the organs of the 

body. 
Plethoric— A superabundance of blood in the system. 
Pleura — The membrane which invests or incloses the lungs. 
Pleurisy — Inflammation of the pleura. 

Pleuro-pneumonia — Inflammation of both the pleura and lungs. 
Premonitory — Giving previous warning or notice. 
Primitive — Pprtaining to the beginning or origin. 
Prolific — Producing young or fruit. 
Propagate — To multiply by successive generations. 
Protrude — To thrust out. 
Proximity — Being near, next, or nearest. 
Pulp — A soft mass or substance. 
Pulse — The beating of the heart and arteries. 
Puncture — To pierce with a pointed instrument. 
Pus — Matter secreted by wounds, ulcers in the process of healing. 
Pustule — An elevation of the skin containing pus. 
Purulent — That which has the character of pus or consists of pus. 
Putrid — To rot or decay. 

PYuEMIa — Poisoned condition of the blood by absorption of rotten pus. 
Pyloric Orifice — The orifice between the stomach and small bowel. 
Pyramidal — Having the form of a pyramid. 
Qaudruped — An animal having four feet. 
Kamify — To shoot into branches, as the stem of a plant. 
Kectum — The last end of the large gut. 
Kespiration — The act of breathing. 
Ketching — Straining, to vomit. 
Khinoceros — A large animal of the pachydermita. 
Saline — Partaking of the quality of salt. 
Salivate — To produce a flow of suliva or spittle. 



310 GLOSSARY. 

Scavenger — One whose employment is to clean the streets. 
Secretion — To separate ; an organic function which is chiefly executed 

by the glands. 
Scrotum — The bag which contains the testicles. 
Serum — The transparent or watery part of the blood. 
Sodden — To swell, to be inflated. 
Solidify — To make solid or compact. 
Spine — The backbone. 
Spleen — The melt. 

Stomach — The organ of digestion, the paunch. 
Subcutaneous — Under the skin. 
Sumptuary Laws — To restrain or limit. 
Suppuration — Producing matter or pus. 
Tenacious — Adhesive, sticky. 

Test-paper or Litmus-paper — Used for testing acidity. 
Testicles — The seeds of the male, the generative organs. 
Tissue — By this term in anatomy is meant the texture or organization 

of parts. 
Tonic — Anything that increases the strength, either food or medicine. 
Transmitted — Passed from one to another, or from parent to child. 
Transparent — Admitting the passage of light. 
Trichocephalus — Long, thread-like worm ; generally inhabits the 

large bowel. 
Tubercle — A tumor in the substance of organs ; consumption. 
Tumor — A swelling or morbid enlargement. 
Tunic — An envelope. 
Ulcer — A sore discharging matter. 

Ureter — A tube conveying the urine from the kidneys to the bladder. 
Urethra — The canal through which the urine passes from the bladder. 
Uterus — The womb. 
Vascular — Full of vessels. 
Vender — One who sells. 
Ventilate — To admit free circulation of air. 
Vermiculate — Kesembling a worm. 
Villous — A hair membrane covered with soft papilla. 
Virus — A contagious matter or poison. 
Vital — The seat of life, that on which life depends. 
Vitality — The act of living, animation. 
Vitiate — To render defective, to destroy. 
Voluminous — Large, consisting of a great volume. 
Zoologist — One well versed in the natural history of animals. 
ZoosPENU — A very small animal found in certain plants, and in water. 



INDEX. 



Abortion, treatment of, 54. 
Abstinence from eating pork, 10. 
Age, great, of wild boars, 30. 
Aiierica, hogs imported to, 34. 
Anatomy of swine, 70. 

Head, 72. 

Brain, 75. 

Nose, 72. 

Nostrils, 77. 

Larynx, 78. 

Pharynx, 80. 

Throat, 81. 

Chest, 83. 

Lungs, 84. 

Windpipe, 86. 

Bronchial tubes, 88. 

Heart, arteries, and veins, 87. 

Alimentary canal, 93. 

Gullet and stomach, 93. 

Bowels, 9^97. 

Liver, 103. 

Spleen, 104. 

Peritoneum, 105. 

Kidneys and bladder, 114. 

Skin, 116. 
Ancient boar hunts, 31. 
Apoplexy, 75. 
Atmospheric poison, 172. 
Bladder, description of. 114. 
Bleeding at the nose, 77. 
Blood, circulation of, 87. 
Blood-letting, 82. 

Boar, age and management of, 50. 
Boars' tusks, 34. 
Brain, 75. 
Breeding, 45. 
Breeds, choice of, 41-47. 
Breeding, in and in, 49. 
Breeding sows, choice, management of, 51. 
Breeds improved, 37. 
Bronchial tubes, 88. 
Butchers, hogs for, 48. 
Castration, best time for, 67. 
Caution against imposition, 38. 
Chest, description of, 83. 
Choice of food, 22. 
Cholera, 135. 

Causes of, 169. 

Supposed loss by, 139. 

MortaUty of, by Dr. Sutton, 137. 

Premonitory signs of, 144. 



Cholera. 

Post-mortem appearance of heart, 146. 

The wind-pipe, 147. 

The lungs, 148. 

The liver and gall-bladder, 150. 

The stomach and bowels, 151. 

The kidneys and bladder, 152. 

The skin, 143. 

Appearances, by Illinois physicians : 

Case Nos. 1 and 2, 155. 

Case No. 2 and 3, 156. 

Appearances, by Dr. Allen, 158. 

Appearances, by Dr. Higgins, 163. 

Appearances, by Dr. Sutton, 164. 

Contagion of, 166. 

Propagation of, 195. 

Treatment of, 199. 
Color, 44, 117. 
Colic, treatment of, 99. 
Cold, effect of, 173, 187, 188. 
Colon, 97. 

Cysticercus, history of, 133, 223, 231. 
Diarrhea, treatment of, 100. 
Diseases of swine described; medicines 

for, 144. 
Distilleries, mortality at, 137. 
Diseased meat dangerous, 214, 

Tubercle or consumption, 215. 

Choleraed pork kUls dogs, 216. 

How detected, 220. 

Should be examined, 216. 

In market, 218. 
Domestication of swine in England, 11. 
Duodenum, 96. 

Dust effect of, 173, 177, 180, 185. 
Early history of the hog, 9. 
Egyptians abstain from hog's flesh, 10. 
England produces the best swine, 37. 
Epidemics among swine, 136. 
Parrowing, best time for, 60. 

Rules respecting, 51. 
Feeding swine, 203. 206. 
Filthiness denied, 23. 
Food for pigs, 59. 
Food of the wild hog, 21. 
Gangrenous erysipelas, 120. 
Gauls, early breeding of swine, 10. 
Gestation, period of, 52. 
Gorget of the maw, 102. 
GuUet, 93. 
Head, description of, 72. 

(311) 



312 



INDEX. 



Heart, description of, 85. 

Hog-house, plan of, 63. 

Hogs, number, value, and loss in U. S., 139. 

Treatment of, by Hawkins, 189. 

Treatment of, by Smith, 202. 

Kejected by Jews and Egyptians, 10. 

Value of his flesh to the world, 12. 

Filthy habits of, 19. 

Choice of his food, 21. 

Not a native of America, 34. 

Domestication of, 36. 
Kidneys, 114. 

Larynx, description of, 78. 
Law of the Jews, 9. 
Leprosy, 124. 

Lice, effect of, how to destroy, 123. 
Like begets like, 46. 
Little attention given the hog, 14. 
Liver described, 103. 
Lock-jaw, 75. 
Lungs, description of, 84. 

Inflammation of, 90. 
Mange, 126. 
Measles, 130. 
Meats, high price of, 17. 

Diseased, 214. 

Tubercle or consumption, 215. 

Dogs killed by it, 216-217. 

Diseased, how known, 220. 

Diseased, in market, 218. 

Cysticercus in, 221-223. 
Names of breeds applied, 37. 
Nasal catarrh, 76. 

Nations, abstinence from hog's flesh, 10. 
Notice of warm climates, 13. 
Physiology of the hog, 70. 
Pigs inherit the constitution of parent, 46. 

Treatment of, 59. 

Number litters in a year, 61. 

Best time to farrow, 60. 
Pleuro-pneumonia, 188. 
Points of a good hog, 41. 
Poison, atmospheric, 172. 



Pork an article of commerce, 40. 
Quinsy, treatment of, 81. 
Rolling in the mud, 19. 
Sows, choice of, 47. 

Age and quality of, 51. 

Eating their young, 56. 

Treatment while sucking, 57. 

Spaying, 68. 

Spinal cord, 75. 

Spleen, 104. 
Stomach, description of, 93. 
Trichina spiralis, 227. 

Animals, foU7id in, 228-251. 

Butchers, opposition by, 258. 

Carried in the blood, 249. 

Compared with cysticercus, 231. 

Cuts of, 239, 247, 248. 

Experiments on dogs, 235. 
On mice, 234. 
On rabbits, 249. 255. 
On other animals, 251. 

Ham, cooking, 287. 

Hog easily infected, 251. 

Lungs, found in, 271 

Inspection necessary, 277. 

In America, 270. 

Meat examined, 277. 

Meat well cooked, 280. 

Means of prevention, 290. 

Muscle, number in, 248. 

Muscle, encapsnled in, 238. 

Mother trichina, life of, 264. 

Penetrate the body, 236. 
Wild boar, cut of, 27. 

Description of, 28. 

Places of resort, 29. 

Habit and age of, 30. 

Contests with dogs, 31. 

Boar hunts, 32. 

Laws respecting, 32. 
Wild sow, habits of, 30. 

Great care of pigs, 29. 

Manner of defending the herd, 31. 



3477 



